Back to Where We Were
by lady-rouge
Summary: AUSasNar Years ago, Sasuke left Naruto behind in Konoha due to a painful fight. Now, five years later, they meet again under excruciating circumstances and Sasuke has the upper hand . . . will years of hatred overcome love in the end?
1. Failed mission

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I don't own the Naruto characters; Kishimoto has that honor.

A/N: This is a slash fanfiction between Naruto and Sasuke. If you do not like slash, I kindly advise you to not read it.

A/N/N: The concept of this story follows a somewhat similarline to my Inuyasha fic, but because a friend askedme if I couldtwist that idea for Naruto, Iagreed to. Please tell me what you think of this story. I really need some advice and I would appreciate and welcome any criticism for this story. Thanks a bunch!

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**Back to Where We Were **

by: lady-rouge

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Chapter 1

Damn.

It was hot and he was late again. He knew that Tsunade-bachan was going to kill him. Sighing, Naruto wiped the small trickle of sweat on his upper lip before increasing his charka into a sprint and running towards the white building in the far distance.

Another mission failed. Tsunade wasn't going to be happy with him. She never was when he came back to Konoha village empty-handed of what she sought. Well, she would have to be disappointed one more time, he thought grimly before slowing to a stop in front of the gate and its two guards.

Seeing him, they opened the door quickly to allow him access.

"Tsunade-hime is looking for you," the man on the left said. "She asked that you come to her office immediately when you arrive back."

Naruto nodded curtly at the guards before entering and once more, began to run towards the white building that began to look more and more intimidating as he came closer to it. He paid no attention to the sound of laughter or shouting as he ran past the children in the park. Nor did he even look towards the ramen stand when the delicious smell drifted into his unsuspecting nose. It was always a test of his will power, a test that had taken him many years to perfect.

Forgetting the dilemma at hand, Naruto smiled sheepishly as he remembered the days when Tsunade-bachan had beat him senseless for not being able to pay attention to her but ramen instead. Giving a little chuckle, Naruto entered the Hokage building and making three left turns, he was in front of a large, majestic oak door where two ANBU guards stood guard.

Giving him a quick nod, they opened the door for him and he entered, giving the regal room that he had seen over and over a quick look. It consisted of many rugs, tables, clutters of paperwork and a huge desk in the center where the now angry Tsunade-bachan was glaring at him with her arms crossed tightly in front of her and tapping a couple of her fingers pointedly on her desk.

Naruto gulped and stepped up to her. "Tsunade-bachan," he said with a small smile. "You're not looking too good," he said with a laugh as he heard the door behind him close. Great, the last and only exit sealed.

"Naruto . . ." she growled at him. "Did you find it?" she asked him with a piercing look.

Taking off his hitai-ate and running his fingers through his tousled blond hair, Naruto shook his head regretfully. "Sorry Tsunade-bachan, but the Hidden Mist Village did not have it."

"Damn." She slammed her hand roughly on her desk. It shook slightly, but stood as proudly as before. "How do you know that the Hidden Rain Village does not have it?"

"The man who received the Curse Seal at Hidden Mist is dead," Naruto said in a flat voice as his eyes took on a grim look. "He was killed in a fight against an old enemy. I'm sure Orochimaru won't be happy that there is one less number in this race."

"Damn, Damn, DAMN!" Tsunade shouted before laying her hand shakily to rest on her desk. "We've only tried six Hidden Villages as of today. We still have three more to go. There's too much to do and so little time. If only we weren't so short on ninjas at this moment, I would tell them to go with you, but as of this moment, we are too low and with what happened with the Akatsuki incident," at this memory, her face clouded up, "we can't afford any more." Her face was full of conflict and turmoil as she finished the sentence and put both hands to still her head and think silently.

Seeing her gloomy state, Naruto put on a smile for her, "Like I said earlier Tsunade-bachan, don't sweat it."

Her head whipped up so quickly that Naruto eyes widened at the thundering look that she flashed him. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT?" she said loudly. "Naruto, this is your life we're talking about here," she said before she stood up and came to him. "If you say that one more time, I swear I will pulverize you within an inch of your life," she threatened as she nearer to him with an outstretched fist.

Naruto ducked his head as she came nearer to him, but before her fist could reach his head, she stopped it and hugged him instead. "Naruto, I will hate you if you do not take these missions seriously. Please," she said in a pleading tone. Relenting, Naruto nodded at her and she gave him a wavering smile.

"Alright," she said in a relieved tone. "Now, for the next village," she said in a formal tone. "I have looked into the Hidden Villages left, and I've decided that maybe it's time the Hidden Village of Sound was checked. It's the farthest one out there on the map and although we've lost connection with them since the Orochimaru incident," she spit his name like it was venom, "they might have it because they are now the most powerful Hidden Village. This," her voice trembled, but she continued, "will be the last mission before the deadline. There is six months left before the vial is of no use, Naruto. You understand? I will have to sacrifice two missions, but I will get two other ninjas to look into the remaining two villages for five months as well."

Naruto nodded grimly at that.

"I want you to be careful because who knows what has happened to the country in these five years. You are twenty-three years old, Uzumaki Naruto," she said sternly. "I trust you to be able to handle yourself in any situation, ne?"

"Of course, Tsunade-bachan," he whined at her. "I'm old enough to handle myself," he said.

"I'm giving you five months to do this mission and no exceptions, Naruto. If I do not hear a message from you when the time limit has arrived, I swear I will come there myself to hurt you," she threatened.

"Hai, hai," he said as he raised his hands in agreement.

"Okay," she said and pulled him into another big hug, "take care, Naruto," she whispered to him. "Don't die on me, now."

Naruto laughed and patted her back before standing up. "I won't. Don't worry about me, Tsunade-bachan. Just make sure you keep Konoha flourishing. I'll be going to Hidden Sound Village now." With a grin at her, he started to step out but the slip of a paper into his hands stopped him in his tracks. Looking at it, his eyes widened and he looked at her for confirmation.

Laughing, she nodded. "Go get yourself a free bowl before you leave. You deserve it."

Nodding, he smiled widely and sprinted off.

After the sound of the doors was heard, Tsunade sat back down in her chair and chuckled softly at the memory of his happy face. He was too easy to please, she thought fondly before her eyes watered. That was why she loved him so much. In the sanctuary of her room, she finally let her tears flow, finally let her strength drop and her fears show. Orochimaru knew how to hurt her the most. Damn him, she thought bitterly. If it weren't for him and his Akatsuki group, the stupid race to find the vial would not be on her mind. But that had been his purpose exactly. He had wanted all the Hidden Villages to be fighting, to be conspiring against each other, to have no trust in each other until the race ended.

At that, Tsunade's stomach rose in panic. It was coming too fast. Six months was not enough time. Not enough at all. But that had also been what Orochimaru had wanted from them, what he had planned along when he had surprised Konoha with an attack, had surprised every Hidden Village with an attack that night . . .

OOO

_"Stay calm, everyone," Tsunade shouted over the roar of the burning homes. "They are retreating right now," she said before running towards the front. Whispering two quick seals, she bit her thumb and pressed it firmly to the ground. In a flash, an enormous snail appeared. "Bring the people on the edge of the forest to safety," she shouted. The snail nodded and left. _

_"Tsunade-hime," a voice yelled. _

_ Tsunade turned quickly and saw one of her high ranked ninjas. _

_"For some strange reason, they suddenly retreated and disappeared. Should we follow them?" _

_Letting out a tired sigh, Tsunade shook her head. "No, we need to tend to the injured. We don't have time to play Orochimaru's games." _

_The ninja nodded and with a whistle, pointed towards the fields and disappeared. The other ninjas present followed in his steps. Tsunade rubbed her forehead tiredly before following them as well, but she had only gone a couple of feet when a moan broke through into her thoughts. Fearing that it was an enemy, Tsunade halted and listened again. The voice came again—from the high grass on her left and she went towards it. Peeking at the high weeds that surrounded the person, Tsunade saw a male figure. Squinting, she saw the blond hair and ran into the grass. _

_"Naruto!" she shouted before kneeling next to the fallen figure. "What happened?" _

_"Tsunade-bachan," he said in a hoarse voice. "Don't shake me so much, it hurts," he said with a small chuckle. _

_"What happened, Naruto? You need to tell me or else I can't heal you," she said forcefully. _

_"I can't remember," he said with a grimace when she moved his leg gently. "I was fighting when I heard this shout. Figuring it was the villagers, I followed it into the forest, but I couldn't find anyone. As I was about to give up searching, I suddenly felt this gust of wind before I got punched by this force of charka. I was taken by surprise because I never thought anyone would stoop to such a dirty trick and the last I remember . . ." he closed his eyes before continuing, " . . . was a man with the features of a snake bending down to bite me by the hip before I blacked out . . ." his eyebrows furrowed to remember more but he couldn't. _

_"Orochimaru," she growled angrily. "So that was why I didn't see him in the front of the line. If he came to you personally . . ." Tsunade let out a gasp as she realized what that meant. "Then you had been his target the whole time. Damn him!" she shouted fearfully. "Let me see it," she said before lifting up his shirt a bit and pulling his pants a little down. Her eyes traced the black symbol on his hip and her face turned ashen. _

_"What is it, Tsunade-bachan?" he said after the silence got too much for him. "Tsunade-bachan?" _

_"Tsunade-hime!" A voice echoed as it came closer to them. "We have found something!" _

_Looking up with relief, Tsunade stood up from her position and approached the ninja that had appeared in the area. "What is it?" _

_"We . . . found this stuck on a pole that was grounded into the body of a dead ninja," he said grimly. "We do not understand its contents though." _

_"Let me see," Tsunade said before taking the parchment from him and unrolling it. Upon reading it, the paper dropped from her hands and she fell onto her knees in a state of shock. _

OOO

Ten villages attacked by Orochimaru and Akatsuki that night of August 12th. A ploy to leave ten people afflicted with his damn curse. A curse, she had found that night, that only had one cure. That bastard Orochimaru had written that he had left the cure in one of the villages, but he wouldn't say which one.

From that night on, the race had been on. Whether or not they believed it, they had become puppets in Orochimaru's sick, twisted game. The villages had slowly drifted apart and the bond of their alliances was slowly deteriorating as the five years ticked by.

Soon, it was going to be six when the time ticked to the date of August 12th this year. That was all the time that he had given them. _One survivor_, he had written in the parchment, _will get the vial and use it. Only one will survive out of those ten that I have chosen to be a part of this game. _

"Damn HIM," she half growled, half sobbed as she clutched her head. Out of all the people in the Hidden Leaf Village, he had chosen Naruto. She knew she was selfish, but Naruto was like her brother and she was getting too emotionally involved in affairs that shouldn't be. That was what she had promised to herself in her consideration to be Hokage.

"You won't destroy us, Orochimaru," she said in a fierce whisper to the empty room. "You won't break us."

Naruto could feel the sun shining on his back as he carefully stirred the small fire to life to cook the small fish that he had caught by the stream. He could not ignore the calls of his stomach anymore. It was constantly bothering him so he'd had decided to take a quick break. Positioning the fish on a horizontal line to that of the stick, Naruto strung them together and hung it over the fire that was starting to burn.

It had taken him a week and half of sprinting to get to where he was today. He was close to the border, but at least he was on the inside of the Hidden Village of Sound. It had been really hard to find a way in with all the security and guards, but he had done it. He had carefully surveyed the gates and had realized that the only time he could sneak in was when the guards were switching posts. Although he was sure that he had not been seen, he still felt like there were eyes watching him and his every move. Naruto shook off the foreboding feeling and continued to watch the fire as it cooked his fish into a tasty meal.

Naruto was beginning to feel hot and lazy from watching the fire so he moved from the rock that he was sitting on and opted to lie on the ground instead. Watching the fire flicker lazily in front of him, his eyes began to droop and with the long journey that he had taken, his body gave into to the temptation and before he knew it, he fell asleep.

Little did he know it, but that was the biggest mistake of his life.

TBC


	2. Flying

**Disclaimer:** sadly, I don't own the Naruto characters; Kishimoto has that honor.

A/N: Sorry for anyone who was waiting for the next update of the story. Sorry again! I just came back from Washinton D.C. for two months and I just wrote this story out quickly. Please tell me your thoughts and opinions! I'd appreciate it so much. Also, OOO means flashback! Now, on to the story and enjoy!

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**Back to Where We Were **

by: lady-rouge

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Chapter 2

The moment that Naruto became conscious of his surroundings, he knew that something was wrong. Very wrong. For one thing, all he could see when he opened his eyes was total, utter darkness. The only hint that he got to being blindfolded was the feel of the rough cloth rubbing against his skin whenever he moved slightly to the side. Secondly, he could not move his arms or legs for that matter nor could he form chakra out. Feeling a prick of dread forming in the bottom of his stomach, he let his other senses take over while he calmed his frantic breathing. Now was not the time to panic even though the unknown was what scared him the most. He had no idea of where he was or whose hands he was in. He had to remain calm and find a way out. Naruto forced himself to still his breathing as he leaned against a cold surface. _A brick wall, _he presumed as he shivered at the freezing feeling. Somewhere in the distance, Naruto could hear some faint talking and laughing. Tilting his ears a little closer to the source of noise, he tried to listen to what they were saying, but they were too far away.

"Look who's awake," a low voice said, surprisingly near to Naruto. Naruto had to fight the urge to jump slightly. For some reason, he had not been able to sense that person at all. _Damn it._

"He's awake?" another voice said.

"Yeah," the low voice said again before letting out a chuckle. "I bet he's going to wish that he had never come here in the first place," the voice said with another chuckle.

"They think too low of us," the other voice said in an agreeing tone that made Naruto imagine him nodding his head readily with the other man. "Well, look where that got all the other ones who underestimated us." They both let out loud laughs that got closer and closer to Naruto as he sat there and listened. "Let's see how tough this man is," was the only warning Naruto got before he was hauled roughly up and against a hard stomach. He stumbled slightly, but the man held him firmly so he would not fall. "Na-uh, we can't have you injuring yourself on us when we have things planned for you." The man tsked at him before grabbing his arms roughly. "Now that you're up, it's time for you to meet our legendary king. By the end of the meeting, we will see how good you really are."

Naruto tried to protest angrily with words, but only heard smothered sounds coming from his mouth instead. _His mouth had been covered as well_, he thought with a feeling of sickness. Now that his attention was on the cloth, the smells that tinted it came into his senses at full blast and he fought the nausea that rose up. It smelled like old vomit—like they had used this same cloth on every ninja that had the misfortune of being found by them. Breathing deeply, he tore his attention from the cloth and moved it towards the two men just as they both readjusted their grips on his arm. Getting a firmer grip on his arms, they gave a harsh jerk that sent Naruto reeling before they pulled him to walk the same pace as them.

Throughout the walk, they cruelly twisted his arm as a signal to turn a certain way but not enough as to break it. Only injure—that was what they liked. Naruto didn't mind the long walk and twisting at first, but as time wore on and with each step he took, he began to feel the after effects of having most of his senses shut down or blocked and he began to walk more sluggishly.

"Walk faster!" a big hand hit the side of his head and Naruto let out a growl as his blood began to boil. "We don't have all night!" the impatient voice said again before yanking him to go faster. Naruto almost stumbled, but their arms held him firm in place as they moved quickly over the soft yet firm ground that Naruto assumed to be the ground outside. After what seemed like an eternity of walking to Naruto, they finally came to a stop.

"Who is it?" A voice that could only belong to a female said in a curt voice.

The man with the low voice replied, "Kiba and Kankuro reporting with the trespasser for the King."

"He is in the main room." And with those words, Naruto could hear the sound of a heavy door sliding open before they started to walk again. But silence did not meet his ears like the former trek. This time, the sound of music and laughing could be heard in the big room that they walked through. Embarrassment flew through him at the knowledge that they all could see him in this humiliating position and he flushed but only straightened more with pride. He may be in a bad position, but he would not go down easily.

"Hey Kiba!" voices shouted in laughter. "Another prisoner again?"

_Another . . .? _Naruto's heart sank at that but he shook it off as so-called Kiba and the silent Kankuro stopped.

"Yeah," he answered in a bored voice. "But this one seems like he's going to be an easy one to break. You remember those other fiery ones 3 weeks ago? Well, they're not so hard to control anymore."

Naruto felt anger at those words but he did not try to argue. It was useless.

The voices with laughter in their voices spoke again: "Hurry up and come play cards with us, Kiba and Kankuro."

"Hai, Hai," Kankuro finally spoke before Naruto felt the tug on his arms again and they began to walk again towards the main room. Panic was now rising within him. Was the King really that harsh? And what happened to the others who had gotten the same idea as Konoha to come search for the vial in Sound Village? All the harsh possibilities came at him like a huge tidal wave and he knew without a doubt that any of them could happen to him. Five years ago, he wouldn't have been worried, but now that their alliances had grown weaker along with their trust in each other, no village trusted another anymore. It was one for oneself now. Shivering, he stopped as they pulled a door open to step in.

Before he could do anything else, the blindfold that kept him in darkness was ripped off and he stumbled at the blinding light that cut into his eyes. Blinking rapidly, Naruto waited for his eyes to adjust. When it did, he turned his head quickly to look at his two captors. They were both tall with short dark hair. The one named Kiba on his left sported red painted markings on his cheeks while Kankuro on his right wore an outfit purely consisting of black colors. At the moment, they were talking quietly to each other—too busy to pay attention to him—so he gave the room a quick look over.

Beautiful rugs covered the marble floor along with the dark drapes that gave a stylish tone to the room. Oak tables decorated the side of the room while a big throne sat at the center of one of the walls. All in all, the room was beautiful, but Naruto couldn't help giving a shiver at the dangerous tone that it held.

"The King is not here," Kiba was saying to Kankuro and Naruto turned to listen to them.

"I'll go get him," Kankuro said quietly before disappearing out the door that Naruto assumed that they had entered through. With that, Kiba turned back to him.

"What are you looking at?" he taunted at Naruto. Naruto only gave him a defiant look and Kiba chuckled. "You can give me all the ugly looks you want, but they won't upset me. I recommend you to save the energy because they won't work on the king either. Man, I'll probably say _he _has the most intimidating looks I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure the prisoners will agree with me on that too." He laughed again and pulled Naruto with him towards the throne. "We were expecting the King to be here, but he's not, so we're going to have to wait just a little longer, ne? Although I did want to get this over as soon as possible so Kankuro and I could go play cards," he said wistfully. His eyes glazed for a while before they focused on Naruto and Naruto could see that his eyes had lost their amusement. They now held seriousness along with this voice as he spoke again. "Did you come here for the vial too?"

Naruto's eyes widened a fraction, but he made no other movement to show the validity of the statement. Kiba scrutinized him for a while before nodding swiftly. "Yosh, I think so. That has been the only reason that the other trespassers have come here for and so you can't be any different." Naruto's eyes shot sparks of anger at him for hitting the spot so quickly, but he didn't do anything for fear of making it too obvious. Kiba just shook his head before standing up in front of the sitting Naruto. "The King is coming," he said solemnly just as the door opened and the sound of light footsteps could be heard.

"Where is he, Kiba?" a low, familiar voice spoke and suddenly Naruto felt a pain shoot through his heart. _It couldn't be . . . _

"He's right here. We were just talking," Naruto could hear the leer in his voice, but paid no attention to Kiba. All he wanted to—no, needed to see was the voice of the stranger that threatened to be no stranger. Feeling his heart racing, Naruto closed his eyes for a second before opening them to see Kiba move and felt his whole world stop and then tilt crazily as blue eyes met dark onyx ones. Heart lurching, Naruto watched as an emotion that he could not place a name to flit across the hauntingly beautiful eyes before it disappeared, leaving the eyes as expressionless as before. Nothing gave away his surprise to see Naruto except the widening of his eyes for a fraction of a time.

_After all this time . . . Fate was so cruel . . . _

"Naruto," his cool, uncaring voice broke the silence that had started to feel suffocating to Naruto.

Hearing and seeing him being so calm, so uncaring, broke his heart all over again and brought a raging anger inside of him that quickly went away as it came, leaving a burning sadness in his heart. He would not let Sasuke see how affected he was by his aloof demeanor. A defiant glare met an emotionless one. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could see Kiba shoot Sasuke a surprised look. Not getting an explanation from Sasuke, Kiba turned to Naruto instead, but Naruto paid no heed to him.

Before Naruto could react, Sasuke had covered the steps between them and ripped the cloth from his mouth. Feeling the pain burning in his mouth from the movement, Naruto waited for the pain to ebb before breathing deeply to get fresh air into his lungs. Even in the action of ripping it from Naruto, Sasuke had shown no emotion and Naruto felt a pressing need to cry—to shout in anger. _Why? _

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke spoke as his dark eyes burned into his.

Naruto kept silent as his mind raced to find an excuse. If he had gained anything from Tsunade, it had been that keeping the mission goal from the enemies was essential to protecting their village. Let them stay in doubt, Tsunade had always told him. In this case, he knew that they would probably know, but if he did not confirm it, they would stay in doubt.

"It's for the vial, isn't it?"

". . ."

When Naruto didn't answer, Sasuke came to him and gripped his shirt roughly. "It is, isn't?"

Naruto struggled against the taller frame, but with his arms tied, his resistance was futile and he chose silence instead. Up close, if possible, Sasuke had grown more handsome—dressed in an outfit of black pants and blue shirt with the Uchiha symbol that reflected his dark eyes and hair. His pale skin was still pale—maybe even paler than before and his black hair—there was still no comparison to that dark shade of midnight. Naruto felt his heart pounding rapidly in his chest.

"If he is so adamant to keep it to himself, Sasuke, should I throw him into the first prison cell? It won't be too long before he tells us, I assure you," Kiba said to Sasuke before giving Naruto a nasty look.

Sasuke acknowledge Kiba's remark with a tilt of his head, but did not answer him. Giving Naruto a long look that he could not decipher, Sasuke finally spoke to Kiba. "Take him there. I'll be coming there in a couple of days to question them again."

With a satisfied nod, Kiba harshly grabbed Naruto's bounded arms and dragged him to the door. "Move faster," he said before pulling harder. Giving Kiba an angry look, Naruto straightened up and did as Kiba ordered without giving a backwards glance at Sasuke although he wanted to do it so badly. Even when they were out of the building, Naruto could still feel like there were eyes burning holes at his back and he shivered unconsciously.

As the image of a big, dark building loomed up in front of them, Naruto knew without a doubt that this was the prison that Kiba had been talking about. They walked through the door without any problems and with one left and a right after going down a long stairwell, they finally entered a room with many cells. As their footsteps echoed off the walls, Naruto could hear the shuffling of bodies across the cemented floor and soon faces started peering at them as they walked down the corridor.

Naruto glanced curiously at them but otherwise did not say anything. He was in no position to be conversing at the moment.

Coming to a stop in front of a large cell, Kiba stopped and took out a set of heavy keys. Looking carelessly at them, he chose a large copper one and inserted it into the keyhole. While Kiba turned the key several times, Naruto tried to examine beyond the iron bars, but it was too dark. With the loud click that indicated the opening of the door, Kiba pushed open the door with a casual push and tilted his head to indicate Naruto's entrance.

Giving the dark room a wary look, Naruto complied with his orders and stepped in as Kiba spoke.

"Take whatever cot is not occupied," came his quick orders. "Do not converse too much because they will come wake you up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to work." Then the sound of the door shutting and being locked was heard.

"Wait," Naruto protested. "Where are the bathrooms?"

Kiba let out a snort. "They are all at the end of the corridor. Just knock on the cell door and the watch guards will let you out to use them." With that sentence, Kiba left and Naruto was left in the darkness of the cell. The light from the corridors did not help illuminate the settings of the cell one bit and glancing nervously around, Naruto began to feel his way around cautiously. He did not get very far when he was startled by a voice.

"You're a newcomer, ne?"

Jumping slightly at the voice that seemed to come out of nowhere, Naruto turned sharply around in the direction of the voice. Despite the fact that the voice was a soft, feminine one, Naruto did not let his guard down. It took Naruto two turns to finally spot the figure sitting on the floor in the corner and he warily approached the woman with precaution. Seeing his suspicion, she let out a soft chuckle that seemed too loud for the quietness that surrounded their cell and all the cells around them.

"Don't worry, I don't bite," she said with a tone that spoke of a grin on her lips. "My husband Lee, can vouch for that, ne?"

There was a small, endearing snort before another figure sat up next to the woman. "No, I can't," he said, "but at least I can vouch that her bark is worse than her bite."

Within the darkness, he heard a light smack on the head before laughing ensued as they began to tickle each other playfully. Naruto tried to follow what happened next, but it was too dark. The woman's giggles could be heard softly as they tried to best each other. Despite the circumstances that they were all in, Naruto felt a smile turning his lips as he watched the couple. He could feel their love towards each other and he felt elated for them but in the deepest depths of his soul, he felt a burning envy for what he would never have again. It was not too long before she half-choked and gasped, "Okay Lee, I give up! You win!"

Their scuffling finally stopped and giving a triumphant cheer with a thrust of his fist into the air, Lee let out a small victory sign. "Ah, the fun of youth! What more can you ask for?" He said this before pulling his wife next to him to get settled. "Come and take the cot next to us," the man said, finally turning attention back to Naruto. "So we can talk quietly."

Nodding, Naruto ambled his way to the duo and sat where Lee pointed. Trying to find a comfortable position, it took Naruto a minute to sit himself down before he spoke to the couple. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto," he said before raising his hand towards them in greeting.

"Rock Lee here and this is my wife Rock Sakura. Nice to meet you," Lee said to him before shaking his hand firmly. Sakura nodded as well and shook his hand after her husband. Under other circumstances, Naruto would have thought they were guests at a gathering meeting acquaintances but his sadistic mind did not allow him that illusion. "What village are you from?" came Sakura's question.

"The Hidden Leaf Village," Naruto said with a quick glance at them. "You?"

"We are both from the Hidden Rock Village," Sakura's voice said proudly. "Have you ever been there?"

Naruto thought about it for a while. "No, I haven't," he said after a moment of thinking.

"It's one of the best and strongest villages out there," she said and he could hear the pride behind her voice. "Even after that damn bastard Orochimaru attacked our village, we were able to pick up the pieces and rebuild our village to be close to its former strength and glory." There was now a sorrow in her voice left after the traces of anger fled. "Many people that lived on the outskirts of the village died of course, but at least we were able to stop him from attacking any further into the center—at the cost of a man."

Naruto's eyes widened at their story. "Did you," he started slowly, "did you know him?"

Sakura looked at him before shaking her head. "He was not anyone that carried that kind of importance, you know, but . . . somehow he got chosen to be on the receiving end of the Orochimaru's curse. Ever since that day, our village ninjas have searched the other hidden villages, but to no avail, we could not find the vial. This was my last mission with Lee before I was going to stop, but it was bad luck that we got caught." She let out a sigh before leaning against Lee for support. Slinging his arm around her shoulders, he comforted her with a soothing pat.

"Your last . . .?" Naruto gave her a confused look. "You mean that you're giving up on the search already?"

She gave him a startled look before letting out a protest. "Of course not!" she exclaimed. "I wouldn't stop doing these missions with Lee but the village made me. You see . . ." she gave a warm smile to Lee before turning it on him. "The thing is . . . I'm pregnant."

At that, Naruto became speechless and he sputtered. "Y-You're pregnant!" Feeling that grin widen at his bewilderment, he just stared at them both. "But isn't that dangerous for the baby if you're doing missions?"

With that question that hit upon reality too close for comfort, they both nodded grimly at him. "That's true," Lee said softly with regret and turned to Sakura. "I knew you shouldn't have come along, Sakura. It's all my fault!" he said in a tortured voice to her, but Sakura pulled him close to her and whispered something to him. He calmed down, but he still looked miserable

"We all knew it was and they did tell me not to participate in the missions anymore but I couldn't just sit there and let the deadline slowly approach. There's only six months left for Pete's sakes and only one vial. What are we supposed to do when there are nine other Hidden Villages searching for the exact same thing?" She looked with pain at him. "I don't' want anyone else to die, but that's the way that bastard planned it. I feel so confused as to why we are all playing Orochimaru's game, but I also understand that we don't want to lose any more from our villages if we can help it." Her voice began to tremor and he could hear it shake. "I just wish there was another way," she said before falling silent.

"What about you?" Lee asked him when his wife did not speak anymore.

"Me?" Naruto asked him. Lee nodded at him. "I also came here to search for the vial as well but . . . as you can see, I did not succeed." His voice got lower, "One minute I was cooking a fish on the edge of the inside border and the next I was blind, confined and chakra-less."

Lee nodded. "Yeah, all the prisoners receive that small welcoming gift from the Hyuuga clan, Neji and Hinata," he said with a grimace. "Lovely, isn't it?"

"The Hyuuga clan?" Naruto asked.

"They are one of the strongest clans in the Sound Village and most likely one of the strongest clans out of all the Hidden Villages as well."

Naruto gulped and nodded before speaking again. "What do we do now? Is there any way to escape?" By the look of their grim faces, Naruto lost any hope for the moment. "How do you plan to get out of here?"

" . . ."

Naruto felt despair washing over him in thunderous waves as he watched them look at each other hopelessly. "We've tried once, but . . ." Sakura drifted off, "but they know about our baby and have threatened to hurt him or her if we try again." Her voice choked with emotion at that. "I wouldn't mind if they hurt me, but to hurt my baby is despicable. These guards will stop at nothing to try to hurt us. We were hoping that they wouldn't figure out about my pregnancy, but Neji saw the baby's life force when he was sealing my chakra with his Byakugan."

They all fell to silence and with a small yawn from Sakura, she sighed again. "Best get your rest Naruto. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked her.

Her eyes darkened. "This is their time to break our spirits and put us in our place. The cell that we're in is for the ninjas who won't put their pride down and tell the Sound Village their mission. There were other ninjas in the cell with us last week, but they left to the other cell on the other end. That other cell is for those who have given in for whatever reasons. But I don't get why they would tell when we all get the same treatment from the guards. They just get to leave the torture a little bit earlier—a concept which I do not believe a ninja should be deceived by."

At the words 'torture', Naruto paled. "Torture?"

Sakura nodded, like it was a statement of life that she had long ago resigned herself to believe as a fact of life. "They make us clear the wild land in the southeast side of the village," she said in a flat voice. "It has not been touched since the last five years and now, they have decided to make us clear the overgrown weeds, trees and stalks for the construction of a military storage place."

They were quiet for a moment and when Lee moved, Naruto wondered what happened. "Sakura fell asleep," he explained to Naruto. With gentleness, Lee moved his wife to lie horizontally on the cot. With a quick kiss to her forehead, he lay down next to her and Naruto mimicked his actions of lying down on his own cot. Comfortable silence surrounded them alongside the light breathing of Sakura and as Naruto was beginning to feel the toll of sleep on him, Lee spoke again, startling Naruto.

"At first, I did not think it would be that hard to cope," Lee spoke softly in the darkness. "But we have been here for almost a month and we have hardly made much progress from our starting point. All the guards do is watch you and whip you with chakra-filled whips that hurts like a hot iron if you do not work as hard or fast as they want you to. The breaks they give you are too short for any comfort and lunch consists of meager portions that do not give you any boosting energy at all. At first, I had hope for the three of us to leave safely, but now, I just want Sakura and our baby to escape. Everyday, the guards know that I try to protect her from overexerting herself and so they separate us. It breaks my heart to see them hit her, that I have begun to be bitter from my helplessness." There was a slight movement and Naruto could see Lee turn his head towards him. "I comfort her everyday and reassure her that we will get out of here before she is due, but the cold hard truth is slapping me in the face everyday as we work and every night that we go to sleep and worry keeps me up. Naruto, as a fellow prisoner and hopefully as your friend, please take Sakura with you if you are miraculously able to leave this place."

_What are you saying, Lee? We'll all get out of here, I promise_, he wanted to say, but it wouldn't come out of his mouth and so he just nodded before he let sleep overcome his tired being.

_Naruto was dead tired. He had been working all afternoon since school let out at two in the afternoon. It was now nine and he had yet to have supper. At that thought, Naruto's stomach gave a loud growl and he quickened his pace to reach his apartment. All around him, the sound of children laughing could be heard and he let a smile flit across his face as he slowed a bit to watch the children play at the playground, watch them leave reluctantly with their parents and that smile slipped for a bit before he picked up his pace again. It was those times when being an orphan hurt him the most. _

_ Silently slapping himself for thinking that way, Naruto continued on. When he got home, he planned to cook some ramen before taking a cold shower and then crawling into bed. That plan sounded appealing to him and the smile back in its place, Naruto headed closer to his home. He could see the apartment building in the far distance already and within four minutes, he was in front of the door, inserting the key into the hole and turning the knob hurriedly. Succeeding, Naruto went inside, threw his things on the couch and headed into the kitchen to fill a pan with water. Halfway finished with filling the pan with water, a pair of arms suddenly encircled his waist tightly and a face nuzzled his neck. _

_"I missed you," the voice said softly. "Why didn't you tell me that you had work today?" _

_Letting the sensations of being hugged wash over him, Naruto turned to him with, "Sasuke, I didn't know you were here, you bastard!" His words were angry but there was no anger behind his words though. A warm feeling had filled the emptiness that he had experienced earlier and now it was threatening to overfill him. "You startled me," he said before turning back to turn off the water. Naruto reached to place the pan on top of the stove, but Sasuke stopped him with a hand. _

_"I brought some food," he said before beginning to trail kisses along Naruto's neck. "I knew that if you came home late, all you'd eat was ramen, so I made some food at home instead and brought it over. It's in the refrigerator. Do you want it now or later?" His mouth moved from Naruto's neck to suckle on the shell of his ear and Naruto let out a small moan as Sasuke's tongue hit its sensitive spot. As Sasuke's mouth moved over his ear, his arms trailed slowly, but deliberately down Naruto's front and Naruto gasped as his legs buckled unwaveringly before reaching out a hand to clench the sink counter with whitened knuckles. _

_ Feeling the smirk behind Sasuke's sensuous lips as he slid a knee in between Naruto's legs and rubbed his groin, Naruto fought the urge to buckle again and rapidly turned Sasuke around against the counter to slam his mouth against the raven-haired man hungrily. He gave him a long, deep tongue kiss before pulling up for air. Seeing Sasuke's half-lidded eyes filled with hazy passion, Naruto smirked in return. _

_"Later, you bastard," he said before encircling his arms around the man's neck and tugging him towards him for another kiss . . . _

"Naruto, get up." Someone was shaking him and as the dream of that day began to fade away to reveal reality, Naruto groaned before getting up and looking hazily at the person. "Naruto, this is Lee. Remember me?"

Squinting at him, Naruto nodded lazily before his mind cleared up and he threw the thin blanket aside. "What are we doing, Lee?" He said as he got up hurriedly. Looking around, he saw that they were alone. "Where's your wife, Lee?"

"She left to go to the women's bathroom. I was waking you to see if you wanted to go wash up now. They already dropped off breakfast five minutes ago and in about twenty-five minutes, they'll be coming to take us to work."

Nodding, they rapped on the door and headed towards the restroom when the guard let them out. Out in the corridors, the dim light that the torches provided illuminated Lee for Naruto and for the first time, he saw what Lee looked like. With a bowl-cut shaped haircut and a tight green outfit, Naruto had never seen anybody like Lee. When Lee turned around to show him where the bathroom stalls were, Naruto saw that the pair of bushy eyebrows was something unique about him too.

When they stepped out of the bathroom, He and Lee saw two other guys walking towards them for the bathroom. One had dark, almost black hair and carried a lazy scowl on his face while the other who was a brunette talked with crazy gesticulations. As they passed each other, they gave a look of curiosity towards Naruto before nodding hello to Lee and entering the bathroom.

"Who are they?" Naruto turned to Lee when they were gone.

"They are the other prisoners who have given in to the Sound guards and have told their mission to them. They tried to explain to us their reasoning but me and Sakura do not see it that way. So, if you change your mind, you'll move into the cell where Shikamaru and Chouji who we just passed reside with Tenten, another ninja from another Hidden Village."

Naruto nodded as he pondered Lee's words and they stepped back into their cell where Sakura was already sitting and eating the meager breakfast that they had received.

"You guys were taking so long that I thought you guys got lost on your way to the men's bathroom or something," she said with a laugh. "I was about to call the guard to come fetch both of you guys."

Giving a sheepish laugh, Naruto rubbed his sore head and followed Lee to where the breakfast plates were. Breakfast was nothing like he had ever tasted and Naruto found it hard to finish his plate but Sakura and Lee forced him to, saying that he needed his energy for the long day. Knowing that they were right, Naruto closed off his senses and with one gulp, finished the contents of the bowl that the prison labeled as food.

Right after that, a brisk knock came on their door, the cell door slid open and a huge, massive guy stepped into the entrance. "Time to go to work," he said in a loud voice.

Naruto looked at the duo for guidance in what to do and was surprised to see that the air of cheerfulness had disappeared and in its place, a looming depression and acceptance had taken place. As they stood up to follow the guard, Naruto stumbled after them, confused to the sudden change. As they got into the hallway, Naruto saw a trio that consisted of the two men from this morning along with a woman following another huge guard who met with their guard in the center. Their guard took lead while the other stayed behind to lead the back of the group. As they walked, Naruto examined the group members. Sakura had short pink hair and when she turned back to give him a reassuring smile, he saw her sea-green eyes that held a faint sparkle that was one tenth of what he suspected used to be there. The other group was completely quiet while they walked. The other woman had dark hair that she tied into two twin buns in the back and when she looked up, their gazes met and she let a small smile of greeting tilt her lips before looking away.

Not knowing to do, Naruto stayed quiet until they reached a huge, expansive field covered with weeds and trees of every kind. The entanglements of the nature growing there was incredible and the rotting remains of homes that used to be filled with life stood empty, littering the field every now and then in the far distance. Looking at their current spot, Naruto could see that they were presently working on taking down an old green home with weeds surrounding it.

"Get to work. When we say so, you may take a break and have lunch. Until then, we better see you guys working hard." As they finished speaking, they moved away and hearing sighs of relief, Naruto turned to see Lee and Sakura give each other a squeeze on the hand before walking to work side by side. They all worked quietly next to each other and Naruto found the job strenuous, but relaxing in the sense that it took his mind off of a particular person and his dream last night. _Why did he dream of that day . . . of the past that was best left forgotten . . .? _Naruto shook his head angrily. That dream had stirred up feelings and memories that were best left dead and forgotten. Naruto sighed, wiped his forehead free of the sweat accumulating on his upper lip and turned to examine how the group was working. Everything was quiet save for the talking of the two burly guards under the shade of the tree.

He turned to look at everyone and was surprised to see that everyone was working efficiently—not pausing yet in their work even though five hours had passed. Feeling the toil seeping into his bones, Naruto rested slightly, keeping his eyes on the guards before continuing to work. To his left, Naruto could hear Lee talking quietly to Sakura and upon listening, Naruto could hear his words of support and encouragement spilling from his lips. Looking more closely at Sakura, Naruto was not surprised to see the weary lines in her body and the weariness that radiated from her bent shoulders and her slightly bulging stomach.

Feeling worry take over for Sakura, Naruto moved closer to them and gave Sakura's right arm a slight squeeze. "Sakura, are you okay?" he asked her. She nodded gratefully at him and he sighed with relief but with one look at her face, he knew for a fact that she was not okay. Her face had paled an impossible shade of white—almost to the point of gray and Naruto gave them a worried look.

"Lunch break for thirty minutes," one of the guards called to them.

"Thank God," Lee said softly before taking his wife's arm and leading her towards the shade. Naruto dropped his tool and followed them to where the food was. As they sat and ate the lunch provided for them, Naruto found that the food that had tasted so bad that morning was suddenly tasting like the most delicious meal in the world and he finished it quickly. When he reached the bottom all too soon, he let out a sigh of dissatisfaction and set the utensils aside before stretching out under the cool shade.

"Break is over! Get back to work and I better not see any of you slacking away!" The guard's sudden shout startled them all out of their tranquility and Naruto jumped slightly in response.

"Sakura are you feeling better?" Naruto could hear Lee talking to Sakura and hearing her inaudible response, Naruto hurried to the field so they both wouldn't get in trouble.

Unlike the morning, the afternoon passed slowly by them and as the sun beat harshly on their back, so did the tiredness of Sakura increase. Her body moved slower and slower as the seconds ticked by and no matter what Lee did to comfort her, she began to droop in posture. Her arms looked like lead holding the tool. Naruto gave them both a worried glance before turning to do his work. It was sometime, when Naruto heard the yelling of a guard that he looked up to see that Sakura had fallen on her knees and the guards were yelling at her to get up and continue to work. Despite Lee pulling her up with all his might, she couldn't get up and the guards were quickly approaching.

"Sakura, get up and go back to work now or you will the taste the ends of this chakra whip!" One of the guards raised their whip to threaten her. Impossibly, her face had taken on a shade of sick gray.

"Lee," she whimpered. "My legs won't move. I'm so tired, just let me be."

"No, I won't let it happen again," Lee said fiercely before trying futilely to pull her up again.

As the guards came up to them, Lee tightened his arms around Sakura and tried to shield his body over her trembling one. One of the guards laughed. "This is getting too old, don't you think Lee? Shouldn't you try to protect her in a different way? I mean, this method fails every time." With that said, they pulled Lee away and despite his efforts, they separated the two. While the other held Lee, the other took the whip and told her to get up. She tried to and as tears ran down her cheeks, Naruto felt a burning anger inside of him grow. "Fifteen lashes for you, Sakura," the guard said and as Lee gasped in outrage, the two guards laughed wickedly before the one in front of Sakura raised his hand to strike.

_"It breaks my heart to see_ _them_ _hit her, that I have begun to be bitter from my helplessness." _Lee's words came rushing back to him and with the push of his own anger, he rushed onto the field to shield Sakura from getting hit from the whip. He closed his eyes and expected the pain to come, but it didn't.

"Well, well," the guard said sneeringly, "who do we have here trying to be the valiant hero?" The guard gave him a dirty look and tried to push him out of the way to get to Sakura but Naruto refused to be budged. With growing frustration, the guard raised his whip. "Obviously you are a newbie. In that case, you have never been on the receiving end of this baby," he said lovingly to the whip. "If you really want to protect her, you will take these fifteen whip lashes like a true man. Only then will I leave them alone for today. What do you say," the man sneered. "Or are you having second thoughts?"

"No, Naruto! Say no!" Sakura yelled behind him.

Naruto gave her tear-streaked face a small reassuring smile before turning grimly to the guard and nodding. The instant he agreed, his head exploded with a crushing, hot pain and Naruto raised his hands to steady himself as he felt his skin go numb from the constant, throbbing pain that seemed to come from all over his body. Over the roar of the increasing pain, Naruto could hear screaming, yelling and laughing that seemed to swirl together and become a loud blur of a hideous sound that seemed to tear at his senses. He felt the world tilt dangerously and for a moment, he felt like he was flying . . .

He had always wondered how it felt to be flying . . . too bad Sasuke wasn't with him like they had both promised . . .

OOO

_"Ne, Sasuke?" _

_They were both lying side by side on the rooftop of Sasuke's house together watching the clouds roll by lazily. It was evening and they had just finished dinner earlier. They had only been on the rooftop for half an hour and Sasuke was already falling asleep on him! _

_"Ne, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto said in a bristled tone as he looked at Sasuke. _

_"What do you want, dobe?" Sasuke said tiredly. "Can't you shut up for once?" A smirk curved his lips right after the words left his mouth. _

_"Teme!" Naruto said before reaching over to hit the raven-haired boy and settling back down. "I just wanted to know . . . ah, forget it." _

_"What?" _

_"Nothing." _

_"Tell me, dobe." _

_Letting out a sigh, Naruto relented. "I just wanted to know if you've ever had the urge to jump off a building and fly into the horizon—to feel the breezes through your hair and to finally feel free from society," Naruto said with a long look at the setting sun. Naruto turned to see Sasuke looking at him deeply with a contemplating look. _

_"Are you," Sasuke said slowly as if it pained him to say the words. "Are you not happy living with me?" _

_Naruto's eyes widened as big as saucers. "No, Sasuke. Sometimes I don't think you are as smart as you claim to be," Naruto said with a laugh before bending over to give him a peck on the cheek. "I used to feel that way a lot when I was younger and I saw how alone I was in this village. That was before I met you and fell in love with you, teme! I don't think I'd ever want to fly anymore. If I ever were to, I'd want you flying next to me." _

_"Promise?" Sasuke's look was teasing, but there was seriousness behind those words and eyes. _

_"I promise," Naruto said, turning on his stomach to face Sasuke more fully before giving Sasuke a grin. In return to his smile, Sasuke gave him a light smack on his behind. "Ow, teme! If I had known that you were this mean, I wouldn't have agreed to move in with you and your selfish reasonings!" _

_"Selfish reasonings?" Sasuke leaned over to straddle Naruto and kiss his jaw line. "Call me selfish from not wanting you to work six to seven hours a day at that grocery store that makes you so tired and makes you eat unhealthy food everyday." His lips kissed hot trails down Naruto's bare stomach and Naruto inhaled rapidly. "Call me selfish if I don't want you to work so hard." Sasuke's hot breath moved intoxicatingly over Naruto's stomach as he dragged a path with his tongue, licking and suckling each and every part of his abdomen. Naruto bit back a groan and arched his back in response to the kisses. "Call me selfish if I'm not happy with the amount of hours that I can't spend with you due to work." His hands moved down to work the buttons of Naruto's pants. "Call me selfish if I do all that I do because I love you." With that, Sasuke pulled Naruto's pants down, released Naruto's shaft and bent over to take Naruto into the cavern of his warm mouth . . . _

OOO

TBC


	3. Spiraling out of control

**Disclaimer:** sadly, I don't own the Naruto characters; Kishimoto has that honor.

A/N: Well, the next chapter has finally arrived. Some of Naruto and Sasuke's past revealed and more interaction between these two. More past will be revealed in the next chapter but there are already some hints and it'll be cool of what you guys' theories are on their separation.

* * *

**Back to Where We Were **

by: lady-rouge

* * *

Chapter 3

Naruto had been injured many times in his life but never had there been a time as painful and body wrenching as this one that his senses were waking up to. As much as he wanted to close his eyes and bury himself back into the land of sleep, he could not ignore the tug of consciousness in his brain or the murmuring in the background. With a small groan, Naruto blinked his eyes slowly to see two dark figures whispering softly in the shadowed background. Alarmed at who they were, he sat up quickly, but hissed as a pain shot through his head and he fell back down.

"Naruto!" came a feminine voice and before Naruto could see who the owner of the voice was, a worried face peered closely into his. "Oh thank God, Naruto. You're finally awake," came the relieved tone of a woman with pink hair. _Sakura!_ Everything flew back into his head with a rush that took his breath away for a second and he collapsed fully onto the hard floor that he had currently been lying on.

"S-Sakura, are you okay?" He asked her hurriedly.

Her eyes widened for a moment but she just nodded as her eyes lowered and in a quiet tone laced with guilt, "Yeah, thanks to you."

Through the pain that lay on the outskirts of his senses, Naruto chuckled and reached a wavering hand to pat her assuringly; ignoring the shooting pain with a wince. "Don't fret about this small injury, Sakura. I've been through worse."

She nodded, but despite her agreement, tears still shone brightly in her eyes.

"Naruto, I didn't get the chance to thank you for that act of kindness." Lee came from where he was setting up the cots and sat next to his wife on Naruto's left side.

Naruto flushed with all the attention that he was getting. "I was just doing what any one else would have done in those circumstances," he said with an embarrassed shrug.

Lee shook his head. "No one has done that for us before. They're all afraid of being whipped and I don't really blame them for trying to stay out of trouble. What you did . . . is something that takes a real friend to do . . . thank you, Naruto." Lee gave him a lopsided smile and Naruto returned it with as little as a grimace as possible from the pain.

"Although we are thanking you for this action, I will not allow you to do it again, Naruto," Sakura reprimanded him softly. "They will not go so easy on you anymore. After you blacked out, they cut the lashes to eight, but only due to the intervention of another guard who was nearby. Thank God for that because fifteen would have kept you bedridden for three days at the minimum," Sakura said with relief. "You've only been in bed for a day, and you need more, but it was only with our begging that they agreed to let you take today off. Tomorrow . . . they expect you to come back." A tear trekked down Sakura's cheek and she sniffed it away. "I'm afraid for you because they might take advantaged of your weak condition." She began to cry and Lee took her into his arms to comfort her, but not before casting Naruto a worried look.

They sat in silence until Sakura's crying turned into sniffs and it was only then did Naruto let his drooping eyes close and let sleep overtake his weary limbs.

-

It only seemed like a second that Naruto had closed his eyes before someone shook him awake. Ignoring the soreness in his body, Naruto opened his eyes and got up slowly. They gave him worried glances before reaching out hands to help him. Shrugging them off gently, Naruto straightened out slowly with a small wince. Everything in him screamed pain, but he ignored it.

"Go on ahead of me, I'll follow you guys," Naruto assured them both, but they shook their heads stubbornly.

"If we can't help you at least let us walk beside you." Lee was firm as was Sakura's agreement—if her vigorous nod was any indication.

Feeling a new, but not unpleasant feeling blossom at their concern, Naruto just smiled and nodded as they proceeded to the bathrooms.

With the help of Sakura and Lee beside him, the pre-morning rituals of cleaning and eating passed adequately enough for Naruto and it was not too long before the loud yelling of the guards came to line them up. Since he had practice with walking that morning, Naruto found that he managed the task of walking bearably and so with that and his refusal to be helped, they left him alone.

As they began to walk to their working place, Naruto looked around at the other trio and found that they were looking at him with looks of bewilderment and curiosity but did not say anything. Naruto gave them a small smile and they returned it before looking up at the two guards in front of them who kept giving them menacing glares.

Naruto observed them as well and found that they were the same guards from yesterday. Feeling anger swell inside of him at the remembrance of the events towards Lee and Sakura, Naruto pushed the emotions away. It was no use to dwell on things that he had no control over or things that he would probably be seeing again.

As they trekked to the fields and began to work, Naruto found that within an hour, he was beginning to feel the effects of the whip on him. He found himself breathing short deep breaths countlessly and as the sun sprayed scorching rays over their leaned backs, black spots danced on the edge of his vision that Naruto found himself on the edge of giving up but with one look at the worried couple next to him, he hung on albeit with a thin string.

It was as if his body had a will of its own and even after he had shut himself off from the pain that shot up his arms, from his wounds that had reopened, Naruto did not feel like the arms that continued to do the repetitive work were his own. His arms held that pattern of monotonous work as the morning wore on and to his avail, when the guards called for lunch break, his arms continued to work like it was a lifeless machine. With growing panic at the arms that were not of his command, Naruto closed his eyes and tried with all his might to stop them with his will power but they paid no heed to him. It was only when he felt a pair of hands on his arms that Naruto opened his eyes to see a worn-looking Lee giving him a worried expression. "Naruto, you can stop now."

Naruto looked down to see Lee's hands resting slightly on top of his arms that had stopped to rest on the hoe. Giving him a shaky smile, Naruto tried to hide his dissipating fear. "Yeah, I'm hungry. Let's go."

They left their work at the fields and walked towards Sakura and the other trio who were in the shade. Grabbing their skimpy lunch, they all sat next to each other and ate quietly; not trying to waste any more energy than necessary. Before they knew it, they were ordered to return to the fields to work and with a reluctant sigh, they all stepped out of the shades and into the hot sun once again.

For some reason, Naruto found himself struggling to begin his arms to work now. After the break, his arms and body had tasted temptation and now they were unwilling to cooperate with him. Steeling himself for the pain that he knew would come, Naruto bit his lip tightly before forcing his arms to continue the pattern that had scared him earlier.

"I-I can't Lee," came a trembling voice and Naruto's head whipped over to the source. "Somehow, the food doesn't give me enough energy anymore." _Sakura. _

It was suddenly like the other day and a sense of déjà vu swept coldly through him; leaving a sick feeling in his stomach as he watched the guards look up from their talking and see Sakura's lack of working. Their shouting was the same and as Sakura continued to remain passive and inert at their commands, to Naruto's horror, they took out their whips and came towards them in angry treads. It was like a slow moving film that came out silently as Naruto watched them pull Lee away and turn towards Sakura with angry looks.

Feeling the déjà vu hit him again at that familiar scene, Naruto ran instinctively; driven by the emotions that swirled in his mind. Despite the protests of his limbs and muscles, Naruto found himself running towards the crouched figure and the huge guard that loomed over her with a raised arm. Suddenly, Sakura turned to look at him and her face froze as she saw his intentions. Her mouth opened in protest, "No Naruto!"

The guard turned with surprise and upon seeing Naruto, he smirked maliciously. "You didn't get enough the last time?"

Naruto stopped in front of Sakura and held out his arms in a defensive position to protect Sakura. "Stop hurting Sakura." He glared angrily at the guard and the guard stumbled back in surprise before his face turned cloudy with angry—dark anger.

"Who do you think you are?" The guard said with an enraged snarl. "I'll show you who the boss is." And with a blink of the eye, he had raised his whip and with a deformed and deranged smile, he spoke. "The other day wasn't enough, was it? Well, if you won't move, then I won't go easy on you anymore, imbecile." Naruto remained unmoving and the guard's face transformed into an ugly expression at his failed attempt of intimidation. "You will regret this act of defiance against me" was the only thing Naruto had as a warning before the familiar burning sensation whipped against him and his world burst into white and red sparks.

"Naruto!" Sakura's desperate screams echoed through the fields and as the whips continued their onslaught on him, it was like he was not a part of his body anymore. One minute he was feeling the pain wash over him and the next, it was like he was a stranger watching the scene from afar. In a dream-like state he watched his body crumple and fall on top of Sakura's as the guard continued to whip him and as Sakura continued to scream and cry. It seemed like eternity that the guard continued to raise and lower his hand angrily at Naruto until his other partner finally came to stop him. And as Naruto watched impassively, the guard finally stopped and walked away from the wounded blonde man. As the guard moved away, the pink-haired woman rolled the fallen man to measure his injuries. She was crying and as tears streamed down her cheeks, the other group along with Lee came hesitantly towards the duo.

They had only picked him up gently when the guards came angrily and yelled at them. What he said, Naruto could not hear. Suddenly, with a force of an angry bull, he pushed the body of the unconscious blonde off of Lee and onto the ground and with another shout, he threw his hand in the direction of the prison cells. Sakura yelled at him and without another word, his hand flew through the air and hit her cheek. She let out a startled cry before Lee came and covered her with his body. With another shout, he began to walk away and the group followed him slowly away from the blonde man on the ground. Sakura was the last to leave and with a sob, Lee tugged her away from the body. With twin looks of sorrow and pleading for forgiveness from the fallen man, they finally left.

Naruto watched the scene for a while before his world began to swirl into a black vacuum of blackness and it was with one last glance at the fallen blonde that he closed his eyes to.

-

Naruto could remember nothing through the fog of pain that he drifted in and out of. Days and nights became interchangeable; running and blurring into one long time period. His head pounded painfully that he found it hard to remain conscious. The pain tore at him from all sides and angles; making it hard to stay awake. Many times, he only remained awake for a couple of seconds, but it was long enough for him to see the old but gentle and wise face that stared at him through the blurry haze that signified his pain. Naruto attempted to smile at him before he fell back into the world of unconsciousness but he felt like his mouth was frozen into the grimace that he always wore and so with the failed attempt, he just closed his eyes again.

Naruto had no conscious idea of where he stayed. Through his bouts of consciousness and unconsciousness, he only remembered a wooden ceiling, small windows that let in a small stream of light, the sound of rushing water and the elderly man's kind face. As the days passed and his ability to stay awake longer grew, the desire to know more about his savior and the place that he stayed in increased. He did not act upon his desire until one afternoon—if the looks of the sun indicated anything—when the old man came to spoon feed him a lunch that consisted of chicken broth.

"W-Where," his voice came hoarsely from lack of use and taking a swallow, he tried again. "Where am I?"

The old man looked startled for a moment before smiling at him. "It's about time you began to talk, young man. I was starting to get worried for a while there. For your question, you're at my house at the edge of the village in the woods."

Naruto scrunched his face as he thought for a while. "No offense, but have I met you before? I don't seem to recall your face at all."

The old man let out a chuckle. "None taken since we have not even properly introduced ourselves yet." He brought out a hand and shook Naruto's limp and weak one. "I'm Sarutobi, the medicine man to the village and you are . . .?"

"Uzumaki Naruto." He offered nothing else and the medicine man knew better than to ask for more. They sat there while Sarutobi fed him the rest of the broth soup before Naruto attempted to speak further. "How did I get here?"

His eyes gazed unseeingly out the North window before he spoke in a soft voice. "It's funny because I usually don't come the way in which you were lying but that day, for some unknown reason I decided to come that way from one of my village check-ups. I was walking when I came upon you on the fields and saw you lying there. No one was around so I took you home as fast as I could and I'm glad I did because you were on the brink of death, Naruto. Under better circumstances, they wouldn't have been that death threatening, but it seems like you received some previously to that day. Also, the wounds were much deeper than the first one inflicted. The man who did this must have been very angry."

Naruto nodded but said nothing more. "How long have I been here?"

"About four days."

"Four days!" Naruto shouted before grimacing at the soreness that that action brought.

The man smiled. "Four days is definitely not long enough for an injury as yours. The minimum that you need of rest and food is at least six days." He brought a hand to pat Naruto's head like he was still a child.

"Sarutobi, you don't understand, I am a prisoner of the Sound Palace. I have to go back and help my friends. Who knows what has happened—."

"I know."

"—to them. Huh?" Naruto looked at the old man in disbelief. "You knew I was a prisoner yet you helped me."

"The question is why wouldn't I?" As Naruto continued to stare at him in confusion, the man let out a helpless chuckle before speaking. "As a medicine man, it is my duty and will to help anyone who needs my skills and knowledge. When I became one, it was not in my plans to withhold my skills from _anyone_. A medicine man's role is to help anyone they come across despite their village loyalty or their status in my village. It is not in my ethics to do so to anyone."

Naruto just stared at him in wonder and nodded. "I-I would never have thought anyone would still hold that theory in here with all that the villages have been through. I guess I'm lucky that I came across you, ne?" Naruto's eyes brightened as he laughed a little.

The old man smiled as well; seeing Naruto's humor.

"Does anyone know that I am here?" Naruto said after much pondering.

"No, I have not heard much about you so I'm assuming that they don't care about your whereabouts."

At those words that spoke of the truth, his heart pained at what it indicated. "Regardless of whether they care or not, I'll be returning to help my friends!" he said a bit too roughly but the pain hurt too much for him to just brush it off.

The old man just nodded his head sympathetically before moving the blanket that had fallen to Naruto's waist back up to his neck. "We'll talk more during dinner okay? Right now, I should go work on my herb garden and water them. If you need anything, just shout." With the assurance that Naruto was comfortable and content, the old man left him to his thoughts.

-

Naruto had dozed off for quite a while when he heard the sound of thundering in the distance. At the thought of a storm on its way, Naruto shuddered. He had never been really fond of thunderstorms, big or little. But if the storm was coming, that meant Sarutobi would be coming in and that meant dinner and conversation. Naruto smiled widely. He hadn't had that for a long time. Letting his head rest comfortably back against the pillows, he waited for Sarutobi to come any moment.

As soon as that thought left his mind, the sound of a door banging rang through the small hut that Naruto was in and his head snapped to the now open door. _What the hell? _Naruto's breath caught in his throat.There, standing in all his seething, magnificent glory stood Sasuke. His raven hair blew restlessly with the wind outside and his eyes searched anxiously for something throughout the house. Naruto watched Sasuke's face darken at the lack of whatever he was looking for and without any warning—almost as if he sensed something—his dark eyes landed on him and Naruto could have sworn that time had froze in that breath of a second as they locked gazes.

"S-Sasuke," Naruto breathed softly. "How—"

"What is going on?" A voice broke through the trance between them and Naruto jerked to see Sarutobi standing by the door on the south side. Sarutobi looked at Naruto questioningly before turning to look inquisitively at the intruder. Upon seeing Sasuke, Sarutobi blinked as surprise registered on his old face and with the speed of a man that did not match what his physical appearance told otherwise, he quickly fell upon one knee; face positioned downwards to show his reverence towards Sasuke.

"Your highness . . ." Sarutobi raised his head but otherwise than that slight action, he did not move. "To what do I owe this visit to?"

"How did he get here?" Sasuke's voice came out cold, infuriated as his eyes pierced angrily through Naruto's. A nauseous feeling swept over Naruto as he felt the cold eyes run him over.

The situation becoming clearer with every second, Sarutobi stood up, stepped through the doors and walked to stand next to Naruto on the bed. "Your highness, I can explain everything," Sarutobi said calmly. "I was returning home from one of my monthly check-ups with the Hajime family when I came upon this young man." He paused before looking Sasuke square in the face. "Seeing that he was injured, it was only reasonable that I take him up and rush home to medicate him with my herbs and medicine."

Finally taking his eyes off of Naruto, Sasuke looked at Sarutobi and his voice softened somewhat. "Sorry that you spent so much time and medicine on him, I will be sure to send in money tomorrow to cover the costs."

At those words, Naruto felt indignation boil inside of him. _Why was he always a burden? _Everything encompassing Sasuke and him always ended up ugly . . . didn't he know that already?

Despite the old man's protests, Sasuke turned deaf ears on him and instead spoke again. "Now that I have come, I have come back to reclaim what belongs to me." And without another word, he strode angrily to where Naruto lay and without another word, he tugged Naruto roughly out of bed. It was easy for Naruto to order his body to obey Sasuke when he was pulling on him but when Sasuke had pulled him to the floor, he let go of Naruto's hand like it burned him to touch him and with no support, the pain flooded back and Naruto fell on his knees with a hiss of pain. Arms outreached to stop his fall, his hands took the brunt of the hard floor and he bit back another sound as the air rushed out of his lungs. _When had he become this weak? DAMN!_ Naruto wanted to cry and shout at the heavens for letting him make a fool of himself in front of the last person that he wanted to be seen as weak.

Hearing a startled curse from Sasuke, Naruto bent his head in shame. He didn't want to see the disgusted look on his face. Unexpectedly, arms settled around his waist in a gentle fashion that found Naruto looking up surprised to see that it was Sasuke as he picked him up to carry him bridal style.

"Let me go, you bastard!" His first instinct was to get Sasuke away from him. Panic settled within him and he tried to push himself off Sasuke as familiar sensations began to reawaken. The sensations of comfort . . . of content . . . of Sasuke . . . of home . . . it was too frightening and Naruto fought to be free. "If I _am_ here, how does this concern you!" He retorted angrily.

Sasuke tightened his hold on him. "You broke into my village and are hiding away from the duties set upon you. It does concern me! And because of you, I have lost valuable time and had to put off a contract meeting to search for your whereabouts in this village! I finally find you three days later and where? Leeching off Sarutobi and being lazy." He glared at Naruto; daring him to contradict his words.

Not able to find anything false with Sasuke's words, Naruto gave Sasuke a loathing look and suppressing the hurt that rose at their argument, he closed his eyes and became indifferent to whatever happened to him—to whatever Sasuke decided to do with him next. Closing his ears to the words that Sasuke shared with Sarutobi, Naruto did not know they were leaving until he felt the ground shift underneath him as Sasuke moved, until the cool breeze of the evening caressed his face, until he felt himself fly upwards—never leaving Sasuke's side—and begin to move to the sounds of a horse's neighs and galloping. With the breathing and body of Sasuke enveloping him in a warm halo along with the horse's running hooves, Naruto gave into the welcomed sleep.

-

When Naruto finally opened his eyes, it was to the image of a spacious room full of materials and furniture that spelled masculinity to anyone who came upon the room. Scrolls, kunias, fighting protectors and swords graced the room on the table tops while clothes were strewn on some of the oak chairs lying around. In the center was a full-size bed and looking around, Naruto saw another bed that was a size smaller leaned up against the north wall. His eyes widened even further when Sasuke strode towards the smaller bed and dropped him upon it.

All his sleepiness cleared away and Naruto sat up from his fallen position and glared at Sasuke for an explanation.

"You will stay in this room until you get better." His response to the glare that Naruto shot him was curt; dismissive as he turned away.

Naruto's arm shot out to grab his arm in an attempt to halt him. "What do you mean?" Naruto asked, trying to make himself understand the situation. What happened to the prison cell? Where were Lee and Sakura? _Were they okay?_ "Where . . . are the other prisoners? Have they been given their own rooms too?" Hope swelled up in Naruto's chest before it was killed by Sasuke's next words that were laced with ice.

"No."

"Then why am I here?" Naruto looked at him as questions flew through his mind; too fast for him to even comprehend them. _What had happened while he was away?_

Sasuke glared at him before stalking away to the door; not bothering to answer his question.

"I'm leaving then," Naruto said furiously to the turned back of the stoic Uchiha. "I'm fine now. I will return to the prison cells." Finished with his little speech, Naruto rose to leave the bed, but no sooner had he done it when Sasuke materialized in front of him; stopping his progress to leave the bed.

"No." His same reply came again and Naruto growled fiercely. "You will stay here until I say so," he countered angrily.

They glared at each other furiously; daring the other to make the first move and reluctantly, Naruto did. He didn't have the patience like Sasuke. Feeling the ache that only the remembrance of the past could invoke, Naruto remembered that it was patience that had started the deterioration of their bond . . . maybe that was why he didn't trust himself to have it so much anymore . . .

OOO

_Naruto grinned cleverly to himself as he walked the familiar path to the mansion that stood in the distance. In his hands he held two big bags filled with food. Sasuke always ended up cooking dinner since all Naruto cooked was ramen. So tonight, Naruto would cook a real dinner for a change. He wanted to see the look of surprise on Sasuke's face. Boy would it be worth the trouble of cooking, Naruto thought with a fond smile. Hopefully, it would take away the brooding look that Sasuke had been carrying around for the past few days despite Naruto's efforts to cheer him up. Naruto's smile dimmed a bit, but he pushed it aside as he scurried to get the pots and pans on the stove and the food chopped up. _

_Tonight he would attempt Sasuke's favorite dish and as he sliced the vegetables swiftly, he glanced at his watch and yelped before increasing his chopping and slicing to a higher notch. Hearing the bell ding to indicate that it was time to take out the steamed rice, Naruto quickly finished up the last bits and threw it into the boiling pot. Rushing over to the steaming pot, he transferred the upper half of the madly steaming pot without another thought to the table. Halfway in his haste, the over heated metal traveled to his mind and hissing in pain he quickly ran to the table and set it on the table with a loud thump. Oww . . . his hands felt like they had been run over by a hot iron. _

_Hearing another beeper go off, Naruto quickly forgot his pain and rushed to stir the food on the stove. In the next half hour, he worked like a mad man and when the last beeper had gone off to remind him of Sasuke's usual arrival time, Naruto had successfully set out the food on the table and albeit a little messy, it was set and ready. Naruto smiled happily to himself as the knock came right on time. _

_Naruto jumped out of his seat and walked to the door. Opening, he saw Sasuke who immediately bent down to give him a small kiss on his mouth. Sasuke smiled at him but the distant look in his eyes was there again and as Naruto watched him enter their home, Naruto felt his stomach sinking. Not again . . . _

_"Did you eat yet, dobe?" Not waiting for an answer, Sasuke dropped his things on the table before walking monotonously to the kitchen to wash his hands. For the life of him, he could not move his legs to follow Sasuke to see his reaction. That had been the whole purpose, hadn't it? Then why did he feel like it was the last thing that mattered right now? Naruto closed the door and slid down to the floor as his mind went blink with numbness. Oh god, what had he done to deserve this? _

_"Naruto?" _

_All he wanted to see was a genuine smile upon his handsome face again . . . Not those half distant ones. He would do anything to see those again . . . _

_"Naruto?" came Sasuke's voice from the kitchen again. "I saw what you did and—" Sasuke stopped in surprise as he saw Naruto half bent down against the door. He strode quickly to Naruto to grasp his hands and to pull him up gently towards him. "Is something the matter, Naruto?" Sasuke looked with concern at Naruto's withdrawn face. _

_Yes, yes, there is Sasuke. There's something wrong with you, but you won't tell me what's bothering you. I see it everyday in your troubled eyes. You try to hide it in my presence, but I see it and it scares me because you won't tell me. I'm afraid that you're not happy with me anymore and I'm even more afraid of asking you. I've given you patience and have tried to give you time to tell me on your own, but why is it that instead of time making you grow closer, it's making you grow more withdrawn? What's on your mind? Please tell me, I'll share your burden. Naruto attempted to smile reassuringly at him. "Of course not, Sasuke," he lied. Conveying a smile, he grinned a bit to hide his inner turmoil. "So what do you think of my dinner, Sasuke?" _

_But Sasuke did not answer him as his attention was caught by Naruto's hands that he had captured earlier to pull him up. He examined them intently. "Dobe, what happened to your hands," he said loudly and almost angrily. _

_"I—" Surprised, Naruto stopped and looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? Nothing." _

_"Your hands—they're blistered!" Sasuke said with bristling anger and worry as he looked at the damages. _

_Naruto looked with surprise at his hands that were now held in between Sasuke's bigger ones and saw that they were indeed red and full of blisters. "Oh, that must have happened when I was bringing the steamed rice pot to the table and I forgot to use any cloth for my hands," Naruto laughed sheepishly. "It's no big deal Sasuke, I'll clean it while you go have dinner—" _

_Before Naruto could say anything else, Sasuke had pulled him to the chair and pushed him to sit on it. Sighing, Sasuke left and came back with some medicine. He kneeled in front of Naruto and with so much tenderness that it made Naruto's heart ache, Sasuke took Naruto's hand, one at a time, and applied balm to cool it down. Then he gently put bandages around it to keep it from infection. "Does it hurt, Naruto?" Sasuke asked softly after finishing. _

_Surprised once again, Naruto shook his head. Throughout the whole procedure, Naruto had forgotten the purpose and instead had concentrated on Sasuke—his every movement, his every expression of slight pain and remorse for causing pain whenever he put ointment on Naruto's wounds. Naruto hadn't even felt anything and told Sasuke so. _

_Sasuke just playfully ruffled Naruto's head, but the worry did not go away and as they sat down to eat dinner and as Naruto reached out for a spoon, Sasuke snatched it away. Thinking that he was being punished by Sasuke for burning his hands, Naruto protested. "Teme, that's not nice! I cooked it for you and this is how you repay me?" _

_Sasuke just smirked before throwing Naruto's spoon into the sink behind them. Howling outrages at Sasuke, Naruto made to go get his spoon, but Sasuke halted him by holding his own spoon out to Naruto. It was filled with food. "I'll feed you, dobe." He said with stern tone. _

_Feeling a warm feeling growing in his chest, Naruto just stared at him with his mouth open and without any warning, Sasuke had put the spoon into his mouth and Naruto could do nothing but swallow the food offered. _

_"You're hurt and I won't allow you injuring yourself anymore than you are. So, I'll feed you until you get better." Sasuke smiled at him and brought the spoon back up to Naruto's mouth with another spoon full of food. _

_"But what about you, Sasuke?" Naruto protested as Sasuke brought the spoon into his mouth again. _

_"Later," Sasuke said nonchalantly. _

_"Teme!" Naruto protested again. "I'm not a baby and this food was for you specifically. You can't make me eat another bite." Naruto said defiantly as he crossed his arms against his chest and clamped his mouth shut tightly. _

_Sasuke just laughed before smirking. "Oh really? Is that a challenge, Uzumaki?" With a lunge, Sasuke cornered him against the back of the chair. _

_As his smirk grew bigger, Naruto wondered what Sasuke had up his sleeve. That smirk didn't look too good . . . _

_The sound of the spoon falling against the table was Naruto's only warning before hands were upon him and tickling him. Naruto only had time to register the nimble fingers moving rapidly around his body before he burst out in helpless laughter. "Stop—Sasuke," he gasped in between choked gasps and laughter. "Teme!" He said before doubling in fits of laughter as the fingers worked even faster. "Stop!" He protested again, but the fingers continued. _

_"Give up?" Sasuke teased with a smile. _

_"I-I give up," Naruto said breathlessly; relenting, and suddenly the hands disappeared. "You big bastard," Naruto muttered darkly, but there was no anger in his tone. _

_Sasuke just laughed and Naruto's breath caught as he saw the full laughter in his eyes. That half-distant look was gone for once and Naruto swelled with happiness. Maybe tonight hadn't been such a waste after all . . . _

_"Naruto," Sasuke had stopped chuckling, but there was still a light in his eyes. "I'm happy that you cooked for me tonight, but" he paused and thought for a moment before continuing again, "but if you're going to end up hurt than I don't want you to do it anymore, okay? Once is enough. Besides, I won't complain anymore about having to cook, so don't do it anymore." He smiled widely but there was a serious tone behind his words and serious look in his eyes. _

_Feeling heady from all the concern that Sasuke had, Naruto shook his head. "Don't worry Sasuke, it won't happen again. Today I was just careless because I ran behind on time—" _

_"No more arguments," Sasuke interrupted. "I don't ever want you hurt anymore." With that, Sasuke bent down and kissed him gently on the lips. _

OOO

That night, Naruto should have cornered Sasuke and made him tell him everything on his mind, but he hadn't and now . . . Naruto had lost his chance to help Sasuke. To this day, Naruto wished he had done things differently, but it was too late to change the past. What ifs haunted him nightly. What if he had been more persistent, what if he had asked earlier, what if . . . it made Naruto hate himself so much. Feeling the melancholy rise from that memory, Naruto pushed it away and instead, tried to concentrate on the matters at hand as he watched Sasuke watch him intently.

With a push of energy, Naruto moved quickly to the right of Sasuke, but he was too quick and blocked it. Trying the other side, the same thing happened and Naruto growled. "Sasuke let me go back."

"No."

Feeling frustrated, Naruto pushed Sasuke out of the way and that act spurred Sasuke to push him down and against the mattress with his body. Naruto struggled against the captivity but found it useless with his quickly draining energy.

"Then let them out of the prisons," Naruto said crossly as he looked helplessly up at Sasuke.

"I can't allow that." His voice was unyielding and ruthless.

"Then I will leave here," Naruto said again with anger, "unless you let them leave the prisons and that harsh work," he tried to compromise. "I won't let them suffer by themselves."

"I won't let you," Sasuke hissed and the struggle for dominance began as Naruto tried to buck Sasuke off of him; tried to push him off with all his strength. Sasuke was strong, Naruto realized after they both thrashed at each other, stronger than before and with that realization, Naruto grew even more determined.

With an adrenaline rush, he quickly encircled his legs around Sasuke's slim waist and swiftly overturned him so that Naruto was on top for once. Seeing the surprise in Sasuke's face, Naruto took that advantage and rapidly jumped off the bed and ran for the door. He had only made a couple of feet before he was tackled to the ground by a body.

Naruto turned around from his position of the ground to face the body of Sasuke and tried to throw a punch in that arrogant face of Sasuke's but he saw it coming and blocked it without an effort. Every attack that Naruto threw, Sasuke was able to block it with ease and pretty soon, Naruto felt tears burning the back of his eyes as he saw his defeat coming with the decline of his strength. When Naruto attempted to punch him again, instead of being blocked again, Sasuke caught them this time and held them above Naruto's head. Naruto squirmed angrily; furious at being trapped so easily.

"I won't let you win," Naruto snarled, but Sasuke only tightened his mouth angrily at Naruto's refusal to give up.

"When will you get it, Naruto? You won't win, so give it up!" he growled before he descended down and roughly pressed his lips against Naruto's panting ones. Sasuke's mouth was demanding and harsh; almost angry to the point of punishment. His tongue slid against the protesting lips of Naruto's and ran along his smooth, white teeth before plunging into the warm caverns of his mouth. One hand held Naruto's hands captive above his head while the other held his chin forcefully still.

Feeling the assault of Sasuke's mouth against his, Naruto struggled violently against it . . . against the reawakening feelings . . . against the old desires that were slowly taking a hold of his senses, his mind and his body, but despite the resistance that he put up, he gradually felt the resistance declining against his will as his body's desires took over and suddenly, he felt the tears that he had been holding back at the injustice come rushing back and slowly and he gave in to it . . . just like how his body gave in to Sasuke . . . how it had always given in to Sasuke.

"I hate you, Sasuke," he said mournfully as he realized his defeat through the betrayal of his body.

A tear trickled slowly down his cheek as his hands changed unwillingly from pushing against Sasuke to pulling him closer to his own arching body, as his lips answered back to Sasuke's, as a moan escaped his now-searching lips.

Oh God, but Naruto just realized how much he wanted _his_ touch . . . how much he _needed _it.

Their fight for dominance had slowly spiraled into a raw primal need that spun beyond their control and as their lips clashed heatedly, the need to win dissipated. The need for satisfaction, for completion, for hunger, for each other slowly dominated their mind and as their hands quickly shed each other's clothes, their hands roamed hungrily over every inch of exposed skin. Need replaced and clouded judgment as their mouths moved and sucked on bare skin; trailed hot kisses over sweaty skin. Their bodies grinded in sync with one another as groans and pants filled the room

—and they gave in.

"Naruto," Sasuke's hoarse pant spoke volumes of his plea, of his need and with shaky legs, Sasuke pulled Naruto towards the bed in the center. With a tumble, Sasuke straddled Naruto's body against the soft bed before bending down to mingle their tongues together. Rubbing them erotically against each other, Sasuke let out a hiss of pleasure before entering Naruto slowly and as he thrusted in and out of Naruto in a pattern that soon picked up speed, Naruto gave into natural instinct and intertwined his legs tightly around Sasuke's lean waist as they fell under the trance of doing nature's oldest rhythm.

-

Naruto had never remembered a night as comfortable and relaxed as last night. For the first time in a long time, Naruto had fallen under a deep sleep and as Naruto stretched out his limbs on the bed; feeling well rested, he felt a soreness that left him wincing somewhat as he got out of the soft bed in the center. Naruto turned his head to the left and gaped at the beautiful sight that the huge window offered.

From his high point of elevation, he could see the beautiful waterfall in the distance that was surrounded by trees and nature. Seeing the sunshine shining brightly, the realization of it being midday left him running—only to come to a halt as the events of yesterday caught up to him—and Naruto blanched as he remembered last night. As the images replayed themselves in front of his eyes, Naruto closed his eyes with horror. How could he have given in? How could he have shown . . . that he still needed Sasuke? He opened his eyes and looked at the window once more to see his naked reflection in the window.

Paling even more, Naruto grabbed a folded outfit on the table to the left of the bed and quickly donned it on before walking numbly to his untouched bed by the north wall and throwing himself on it as he thought about last night. No matter what he did, the images played cruelly in his mind of slick, pressed bodies, arching, grinding—thrusting. Naruto suppressed the heat that coiled in the pit of his belly as he recalled last night.

"I am such an idiot," he whispered angrily to the empty room. Sasuke's probably laughing at me right now, he thought bitterly.

KNOCK KNOCK

Naruto lifted his head to observe the set of huge doors that the noise seemed to be coming from. The knock came again and Naruto walked warily to open them. The doors opened with a small _whish _and a cold voice spoke out.

"So you're the one who stole Sasuke from me last night."

-

-

-

TBC . . .

-

COMMENTS: Sorry that I didn't post comments on my second chapter. I hope you don't think I care becauseI really do! I was just in a rush to get the next chappie out and it slipped my mind! Sorry and thanks for reading!

-Chapter 1-

animeperfect: Sasuke is in the picture now and what do you think of him? Hope you enjoyed these last chapters!

Hiei Girl 003: Thanks for the review but sorry for the slow updates!

anime-goddess-of-the-night: Thanks and yes, I can email you!

FoxyLove: Thanks so much for your uber super comments!

your absolute new fan: Thanks for the compliments! They made me happy!

Yit-ha: lol Feel free . . .? That was funny and for that, here is the next chapters!

Cianna Greenwood: Well, I am honored. Thanks for taking the time to read and review:hugs:

Orangecatlover: You are WONDERFUL for that compliment! I thought this story does as well . . .hopefully I can draw the potential out for otherreaders to see as well! Thanks again!

-Chapter 2-

darkbebipanssj4: Thanks for the support darkbebipanssj4, it was a hella of a good trip to Washington D.C. with the chance of meeting some really wonderful peopleand I don't regret it one bit although I just lost some time to write!

With the pregnancy of Sakura, there will probably be some trouble, but I'll let you contemplate on it becauseas the saying goes, my lips are sealed! Thanks a bunch for your review!

Ky0Kichi: Right on Ky0Kichi! Hopefully Sasuke will get his prioirities straight, but a stubborn and hurt Sasuke is a VERY hard one to persuade, so we'll just see, okay? BTW, thanks for reviewing!

animeperfect: Yes, this story is AU, but damn it all, I forgot to! Thanks for pointing it out! Although you don't quite know why Sasuke left, you will soon. Any guesses:)

Hiei Girl 003: Well, here it is and I'll try to update faster because I'm sure this wasn't the length of wait that you were expecting. :) I hope you enjoyed this chappie!


	4. Kitchen Duty

**Disclaimer:** sadly, I don't own the Naruto characters; Kishimoto has that honor.

A/N: Yes, I'm still alive . . . just a little worn out from school and family events, but otherwise than that, I'm back! Sorry for the slow update, I've never updated so slow in my life and I apoligize. Blame it on school and my family if you please. Now, on to the story and to see who the possessive "owner" of Sasuke is . . . hope you're not too surprised!

* * *

**Back to Where We Were **

by: lady-rouge

* * *

Chapter 4

"So you're the one who stole Sasuke from me last night."

The doors pushed open all the way to reveal a petite busty blonde woman in the doorway. Her chilly blue eyes appraised him suspiciously as she looked him up and down. A frown fell upon her lips as she observed him carefully.

"I—what?" Naruto choked on his words as she glared icily at him. "You heard," she said angrily before narrowing her eyes at him and taking a step closer to him.

"Don't mind Ino," another voice spoke out and Naruto jerked in surprise to see another blonde woman step out from the wall across his door. Unlike Ino, this woman was tall and while Ino had her long blonde hair down, she held her short blonde hair up in four ponytails at the back of her head. "She's just jealous that Sasuke didn't show up for her entertainment last night like he usually does."

"Temari," she growled. "You know that he has never stood me up like this before and I demand to know why. Is it because of this uncouth boy here?" Her eyes coolly looked him up and down. "I don't see what is so special about him. Sasuke must have just wanted something new to taste." Her tone was spiteful as she spoke to him. "He'll get tired of you soon and then he'll come back to me and he'll throw you away like the garbage you are." A slow, spiteful smile rose in her mouth.

"Look lady," Naruto said irately, "I don't know who you think you are, but I don't appreciate it one bit."

"You want to know who I am?" She looked rudely at him. "I'm going to be the future wife of King Sasuke," she said with a toss of her long hair. "As soon as I can get him to sleep with me in his bed and in his room, I know for sure that he'll marry me," she said with confidence gleaming in her eyes. "So far, he'll only have me in my room—never his room—and that is why I'll know that he's thinking of going further when he allows me to go into his room and his bed," she smacked her lips hungrily at that thought.

Feeling sick at the talk of her sexual activities with Sasuke, Naruto backed weakly into the room. "W-Why are you telling me this?" He said softly as he looked at the both of them.

"Because I want to know how YOU of all people," she said 'you' like he was a bug in a disgusted tone, "was able to persuade him to let you stay in his bedroom." Her eyes were shooting daggers at him now.

"His . . . bedroom?" Naruto broke off weakly as the knowledge hit him like a ton of bricks that he didn't have an answer for.

"Yes, his bedroom," Ino hissed. "And right there is his bed," she pointed angrily at the bed that stood proudly in the center of the room . . . the bed that Naruto had slept in last night . . .

"I," Naruto fumbled for an explanation. "I was only brought here because I was injured. Nothing else happened," he prayed that she didn't hear the tremble in his voice that betrayed his lie. "I'll be leaving soon as soon as I'm better," he said softly as his eyes traveled around the room, "back to the prisons," he said in a quiet voice.

"The prisons?" Ino let out a delighted chuckle. "This is rich," she said in an amused tone. Immediately, her amused look disappeared and she looked fiercely at him. "No matter that you deny any involvement with King Sasuke, I will not go easy on you if you threaten my relationship with King Sasuke." With that said, she turned around and left the doorway without another word.

"Don't pay much attention to Ino," the tall blonde who had remained silent most of the time spoke out to him. "She's just afraid that there will be one more person vying for Sasuke's affections and the place of his heart. Although, right now she _is _the most popular of the servants, so she does have more to fear," Temari said thoughtfully. "By the way, I'm Temari," she said with a small smile.

Feeling more comfortable with the turn that the conversation was taking, Naruto stepped forward to the doorway and shook her hand. "I'm Naruto," he said with an identical smile.

"Sorry about the whole incident that just happened, but that wasn't our purpose of coming up here. Usually King Sasuke doesn't let anyone come into his wing unless he says so personally, but we really needed the extra hand in the kitchens and upon hearing that Sasuke had brought in someone yesterday, we decided to see if you could help. The thing is, some of the kitchen workers must have ate something wrong and today, they couldn't get out of bed and work. We usually don't do this, but we're desperate." She looked at him pleadingly and he nodded reassuringly.

"Let's go then," he said before stepping out, closing the door and walking with her. Along the way, Temari pointed out the essentials of the Castle to him; showing him the main halls and the main staircases before leading him into a room that clanged and clashed loudly.

"What is this?" he said with an amazed tone. There was steam all over the place while people ran around busily carrying big loads. He was surprised that no one was crashing into any one yet as they swerved in and out of each other dangerously; intent on carrying out their tasks.

"The kitchen," Temari answered with a fond smile. "You begin to love this place after working in it for a while."

"Oh" Naruto said as he gazed at the scene in front of them. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"That's for the head cook Iruka to decide," she said with a laugh before heading towards a man who was busily shouting orders to people over the roar of the cooking fire. Finished with it, the man with chestnut brown hair tiredly turned around when the group dispersed and with a sigh, began to pick up a pail of water. Upon seeing them, he stopped in mid-action and rose to greet them happily.

"Oh thank you for agreeing to help," Iruka said happily to Naruto. "My name is Iruka and yours?"

"Naruto," Naruto said with a smile to the lively man. He was positively glowing with relief as they shook hands.

"Oh! Temari, can you start the mix for the bread?" Iruka said, as if it just popped in his head. Temari nodded and waving at Naruto, she left them. Iruka smiled and turned to him. "So, Naruto, how much experience do you have with cooking or cleaning?"

Thinking for a while, Naruto gave a sheepish smile. "Hardly any," he said before laughing at Iruka's surprised expression. "I usually ate out at a Ramen shop back where I came from. I never cooked for myself since I lived alone."

Iruka thought for a while before speaking. "How about you help me cut the vegetables for the dinner dish? I'll show you how," he said quickly; afraid that Naruto would decline the task.

Naruto agreed and after Iruka showed him how to align the vegetables in the right angle to create the specified cuts, Naruto nodded happily before chopping away at his board. Seeing his enthusiasm, Iruka laughed before going to his own board and beginning as well. And as they both worked silently at their boards, Naruto noticed that there was hardly any talk in the busy kitchen and almost as if sensing his thoughts, Iruka spoke.

"It's usually not this quiet in here," Iruka said with a laugh. "If you could call it that amongst all this clatter of pots and pans, but we've fallen behind due to the lack of workers and now everyone has more tasks than they can handle." He finished talking and stopped his chopping. "I'm going to check on the other workers, I'll be back." And then he was gone.

Naruto chuckled at how hard Iruka was working and continued to chop the bundle of vegetables that was slowly decreasing with time.

-

Sasuke cursed loudly as his eyes roamed through his empty room. Where could Naruto be? He thought that they had established that he couldn't go back to the prisons yesterday but it looked like Naruto had lied. With a quick spin of his feet, Sasuke closed the door loudly and left the wing and in the direction of the prisons.

Sasuke stormed to the prisons and to anyone who was in his path, they made sure to move quickly as he moved past them without so much as a glance. Sasuke had just come back from a long meeting with the Hidden Village of Sand. He and the king from there had been trying to settle a contract about being allies, but the king of sand was just as stubborn as he was and so they had not gotten anywhere. And so they had decided for the king to come over tonight for dinner and they would all talk about it with the Hyuuga family and the other prominent families. Growling at the remembrance of their latest encounter, he ran a hand through his hair as he entered the prison. Going down the steps of the darkly lit room, he walked until he came upon a guard.

"Is Naruto here?" He asked in a bristling tone. Surprised at his sudden appearance, the guard shook his head fearfully.

Surprised at the answer, Sasuke began to feel inklings of worry as he rushed back out and into the castle once more. If Naruto did not return to the prison, where was he?

Just as Sasuke was about to go towards the east wing to look for Naruto, a voice stopped him.

"Isn't it time for dinner, Uchiha?"

Sasuke turned around and saw Neji, the head of the Hyuuga clan in their village.

"King Gaara of the Sand Village is coming tonight, ne? You wouldn't want to be late."

Scowling, Sasuke nodded and followed after Neji. Neji was right, if he was late, Gaara would be in a foul mood—thus, ruining the negotiations between their villages. Naruto would have to wait. With an odd tightening in his chest, Sasuke headed towards the dining room.

-

Naruto was beginning to feel weariness creeping into his bones as he finished cutting the strawberries into circular shapes for the cake they were making and so he stopped and leaned against the table slightly to rest.

"Naruto, are you done with the strawberries?" Iruka's voice carried loudly through the noise in the kitchen.

Yelling an affirmation, he sneaked a piece into his mouth and hurried towards Iruka with the bowl in his hands. "Got it here," he said after swallowing the piece. It was delicious and Naruto bent to put another piece into his mouth.

"Naruto," Iruka chided with a laugh. "You're getting off task young man," he said with a chuckle.

"Sorry Iruka," he said sheepishly.

Iruka just laughed before grabbing the bowl and beginning to place the strawberries onto the cake. After he finished, Iruka turned to give Naruto a grin. "How does it look?"

"Delicious," Naruto said, beginning to grow hungry. To emphasize that, his stomach growled loudly and Naruto blushed. Iruka just laughed again.

"Don't worry, we can have dinner after we finish serving and clean up. It won't be that long," Iruka reassured him before turning to everybody who had begun to gather around.

"Okay servers, line up right here and I'll dish out the main plates for you to bring out. Remember that the King of Sand is also here, so be on your best manners." As they lined up, Iruka turned to Naruto. "Can you help as well? It'll make the process go faster. It's pretty easy to serve. Just follow the person in front of you and give the plate to the person on the left of the person who just got served, okay? It's a pattern, so you won't mess up."

Nodding, Naruto went to wait in line and it was not too long before he was handed a plate by Iruka and following the woman in front of him. Upon entering the dining room, he was astounded by the huge table that stood magnificently in the center with people sitting around and conversing. They all looked to be among his age and as a young woman with pale eyes and dark hair looked up to see him, Naruto smiled widely at her and with a blush staining on her face, she looked away from him to her plate.

Naruto blinked in confusion before a tap on his shoulder told him to continue walking and he obliged quickly. As he got closer to the front of the line, Naruto sighed with relief. The heat from the plate was starting to get uncomfortable that even when he switched the plate back and forth between his hands, it didn't help anymore.

When the woman in front of him left, he went immediately to the person on the left and placed it carefully in front of a man with dark red hair. The man looked up in surprise when the plate appeared in front of him and saw Naruto. Naruto gave him a small smile, but the man just continued to stare intently at him with unwavering eyes.

Feeling uncomfortable, Naruto didn't know whether to turn around and go or ask if the stranger needed anything. The man finally tore his look from Naruto and turned to speak to someone on his left. Seeing this, Naruto sighed with relief and began to walk away. He had gotten about a couple of steps when a voice rang lowly towards him.

"Naruto?"

In the middle of deciphering the look that the red-haired man had given him, Naruto turned back distractedly to see the man on the left of the red haired man.

_Sasuke._

Naruto's eyes widened and gave a double take as he saw Sasuke next to the red-haired man on his left who was again looking intently at Naruto. _How had Naruto not notice Sasuke there? _

Naruto took a hesitant step towards Sasuke but stopped when Sasuke pushed his chair back abruptly and started to walk towards him with strong, purposeful strides. Naruto froze with embarrassment when Sasuke took his arm and led him angrily out of the room, out of view of the curious, peering faces at them. His face flushed at what they must have thought and when they had made it into a corridor that was clear of any butting gazes, Sasuke finally took his hold off of Naruto to look at Naruto with a glare.

"What the hell are you doing down here and helping in the kitchen for that matter?" Sasuke hissed at him. "Don't you know that you are injured and therefore you must rest? Damn it!" He cursed to himself before looking back at Naruto who was now looking slightly angry.

"Are you hungry?" He said in a surprisingly gentle voice as he put two fingers to soothe a headache that was coming on and becoming bigger with every minute. "If you are, I'll ask someone to send some dinner up to you. You could eat dinner down here, but we're in the middle of a contract dinner and so I don't think you should be down here."

Naruto had been about to argue, but suddenly seeing Sasuke looking so weary, a cold feeling overcame his heart and Naruto found that he didn't have the strength to fight back. Nodded compliantly, Naruto headed up the stairs and back into his room with resignation.

Taken back by the ease with which Naruto obeyed him, Sasuke sighed with relief and turned to go back into the dining room. As soon as he entered the room, inquisitive eyes were upon him, but he ignored them and continued back to his seat. While he was gone, the food had finally been served and was waiting in big plates of meat and vegetables that Iruka had cooked. He sat down next to Gaara once more and they began to speak of their contract.

-

"No," Gaara said calmly for what seemed like the thousandth time that evening and Sasuke pursed his lips tightly before letting the huge sigh that he wanted to give come out in a small, unnoticeable whoosh. They had been sitting in the dining room for what seemed like an eternity and they were not getting any closer to finishing the contract than they were two hours ago.

Sighing wearily and suddenly feeling more tired than he had ever in the past couple days, Sasuke rolled his head slightly to the side in an effort to release some of the strain and stress he was feeling, but it was no use. "Then what do you want from me to secure this alliance?" Sasuke half-growled with irritation as he looked angrily at the red-haired king of Sand.

"It's not about what, Sasuke," he said with a smirk. "It's about whom."

His eyebrows arched slightly in surprise as he waited for the answer.

"I want Naruto."

-----

A/N/N:Well, what will Sasuke say? Until next time, see ya later!

Comments:

RuByMoOn17 – Are you surprised that it was Ino or were you expecting someone else?

ky0kichi: He is, isn't he? LOL Sorry for the slow update!

Hiero Kaze: Wow . . . thanks for your compliment, I hope you like this chappie as well!

animeperfect: Yeah, he makes me mad too . . . about their past, it will come in due time. Patience is a virtue . . . :grins evilly:

Shanna: Well, it makes me glad to hear that, but I'll be leaving before you discover that I left you guys with another cliffie :sneaks away:

Heather-Hezzer-and-Honaluki: It's driving me crazy too . . . so much tangles to untangle . . .

xMisoL sorry for that cliffie and while I'm at it . . . I'll apologize for that last cliffie as well. . . :grins evilly:

darkbebipanssj4: Thanks again for your compliment! About Washington D.C., I loved it and actually rode the underground subways for the first time in my life and boy are they fast! If I may ask, where are you from because you should definitely visit the US. It's fun! I'd also like to travel overseas, especially Asia since I'm Asian and my parents always talk about their childhoods there and how they miss it. So, I decided to take things into my own hands and I will be traveling to Asia for study abroad next year!

Hiei Girl 003:

SapphireC: Thank you soo much for that comment. It mad eme happy to know that someone took the story the way I wanted them to: the mystery surrounding their past and such! Thanks!

Fleaur: Wow, this review seriously is going to make me cry :Bawls: LOL Thanks for your compliment because I was disheartened from the lack if interest in this story, but that wasn't the main reason I didn't review. Blame it on school! Seriously, thanks for your comment, it made my day!

SarcasimGrl

PupyPryde: Hey there! J I know I haven't updated in a month and I apologize. It won't happen again (I hope) and thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it.

CammyK: LOL your comment made me crack up! That's another way to look at this fic! J Well, hopefully things will clear up between them soon . . .

TBC . . .


	5. Final Answer

**Disclaimer:** sadly, I don't own the Naruto characters; Kishimoto has that honor.

A/N: Hey, folks! Lady-rouge here asking for your forgiveness :hangs her head in shame: I wanted to get this (unfortunately short) chapter out sooner, but unexpected things are happening in my life and it's crazy. By the way, my finals just ended so I'm gonna try to finish up chapter six this weekend and post it up before spring semester starts on Monday. And to let you readers know, I do have an idea of how this story will continue and finish, so it's just a matter of finding time to write it. Also, I want to thank every one who read and reviewed my story. I really appreciate and it's what keeps me going. Thanks a bunch and enjoy!

* * *

**Back to Where We Were **

by: lady-rouge

* * *

Chapter 5 

"I want Naruto."

Without a moment's hesitation, Sasuke stood up dismissively. "No."

Gaara arched an eyebrow curiously. "You might want to reconsider that answer; considering the situation that you're in."

"That's my final answer," the dark-haired king growled lowly to the red-haired man and without any more words, Sasuke turned and began to leave. Manners be damned!

"You do know that there will be no more negotiations with me after today?" The slightly amused tone of Gaara floated to Sasuke and Sasuke had to bite his lip roughly to hold in a curse. He goddamn knew that and so did Gaara.

Sasuke paused slightly on his way out, but did not say anything. The tightening of his hands told it all. "Sasuke," a hesitant voice stopped Sasuke in his tracks as he listened to the light footsteps come his way to reveal a man with unnatural silver hair that was not befitting of someone in his early thirties. "I beg you to reconsider his offer," was the low reply as the light brown eyes met his own in seriousness. "We all know what is at stake. Is it worth it?"

And Kakashi didn't have to say anything anymore for Sasuke knew all too clearly what was at stake. Closing his eyes in anger, Sasuke slowly unclenched his fists and looked directly and calmly into Kakashi's serious face. Without any hint of emotion is his voice, he nodded. "I do, but that doesn't change my answer." And with that said, Sasuke sidestepped Kakashi and left everyone behind without another glance and headed towards the riverbanks where he knew no one would bother him.

He needed to think.

-

It had only been a couple minutes that Naruto sat inside Sasuke's room when he noticed the fast-darkening sky outside. Something about the full moon beckoned him to have a closer look and with a push against the doors that led to the small balcony outside, Naruto went to lean against the cemented wall and stare wonderingly at that pale orb. It was so . . . fascinating. Even the twinkling stars that had begun to peek out held nothing in comparison to the beauty of the luminescent moon.

Naruto was so intrigued by the moon that he startled when metal clanged loudly in the stillness of the evening with the cemented wall. Stumbling back, Naruto was only able to glimpse a coarse rope before a lithe body flipped itself over the balcony with a hand on the rope and another on the balcony wall for support.

"Hello Naruto," was all Naruto heard before his eyes widened in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" he narrowed his eyes as he stared at the red-haired man suspiciously.

That did not stall the man in giving Naruto a small smile and taking a step forward. "I was on my way out when I spotted you out on the balcony and considering the Uchiha's rudeness in sprinting you out of the dining room before we had a chance to get proper introductions, I thought this would be the best time to do so." The red-haired man stuck out a hand to the blond: "Gaara."

Tightening his lips, Naruto pursed his lips as he stared perplexedly at the red-haired man. "Why are you doing this?" His voice held confusion and wariness.

The smile slipped from the man's lips and his hand dropped down to rest silently against his hip. "I heard that you're a prisoner here." The dark eyes of the red-haired man drilled holes into his and Naruto felt his cheeks flame with humiliation. That was enough to confirm the man's statements and he continued in a lower tone; never once taking his eyes off of Naruto's. "Do you want to leave?"

At that, Naruto's cerulean eyes widened and he flinched as if the man had slapped him. "Don't joke about things like that," he murmured in a bitter tone before turning to go.

"What makes you think I'm joking?"

The words didn't convince him, but it was something about the underlying tone in the voice of that man that sent Naruto's hopes soaring. Naruto stopped and turned to look carefully at the man. "And what makes you think that I'll trust you?"

"What if I tell you I'm the king of Sand Village?"

Naruto froze as he stared at the man. "And what does that have to do with anything?"

"Doesn't that merit your trust that I will honor my word?"

Naruto felt his throat close and open rapidly as he tried to breathe. _Here was his chance to escape_, hetold himself repeatedly, but somehow he felt anxious at leaving and Naruto did not want to admit what those reasons were for making him anxious. But on the other hand, did he trust this man? Naruto bit his lip tightly as he pondered silently. The real question was: could he afford not to? The answer came to him as fast as the speeding strike of the thunderous lightening on warm summer days—no.

"How . . . how do you plan to make this work?" Naruto's voice was quiet and hesitant as he looked at the full moon that stood proudly in the dark sky.

"Meet me on the first day of the upcoming month at the edge of that forest," Gaara pointed to a dense patch of trees and Naruto nodded his understanding. "After that, we'll go to my village until you are in no more danger and then you can leave."

At those words, Naruto took a step back and looking suspiciously at the man. "You're . . . just going to let me leave . . . just like that?" Somehow, Naruto found it hard to believe.

The man nodded solemnly and Naruto shook his head as he tiredly ran a hand through his messy hair. "I . . .," Naruto let out a sigh before glaring angrily at the man. "I don't understand why you're helping me!"

A small faint smile curved the man's lips at Naruto's angry look before it disappeared. Giving Naruto one more look, the man turned to look at the big moon and sighed softly. "It's because I recognize that we have the same eyes." And with those words, the red-haired man was gone . . . leaving Naruto to ponder at the man's mysterious words.

-

When Sasuke came into the room, it was to the sight of an empty room. Cursing softly, Sasuke spun on his heels to find the blond, but stopped in his tracks when the missing blond appeared in the doorway with a small towel that he was currently using to dry his wet hair.

Upon seeing him, the small smile that had been on Naruto's lips disappeared and feeling the heavy feeling that came with their interactions, Sasuke bit his tongue on a crude remark that he had been about to make and pushed past the blond to leave. "Don't think you can wiggle your way into my bed tonight," was all he said before leaving.

Upon hearing his words, Naruto sputtered angrily before shooting the man death glares that could have killed anyone. Anyone but the stoic Uchiha, it seemed. Feeling anger shoot through him, Naruto stormed to his untouched bed and threw himself angrily onto it.

And that was how the dark-haired king found the blond: snoring lightly with one leg draped onto the floor and the other flung carelessly to drape the middle of the bed. Hands clutched loosely around a pillow while drool lingered slightly on the open pink lips. Being deep in his sleep, Naruto missed the soft, bitter yet amused chuckle of the stoic man as he gazed down at the sleeping, oblivious blond man.

Missed too, the soft caress to the whiskered cheeks before a light blanket was draped over the sleeping form and a low, husky voice spoke amusedly before the man strode to his own bed.

"Dobe . . ."

_'Is it worth it?' _The unanswered question of Kakashi floated to Sasuke before he closed his eyes wearily and giving one last glance to the peacefully sleeping blond, Sasuke didn't even have to think.

"Yes it is," his softly whispered voice floated through the room and out the open windows towards the stars, the sky and the big, pale moon before he fell asleep; his thoughts of long-seen idiotic smiles and bright blue eyes that twinkled at him—for him—for _only _him . . .

* * *

TBC . . . 

A/N: I know this chappie was short, but I felt like this was the best place to stop since I wanted the sense of time passing when I pick up the next chapter. Watch out for more memories or their past and more Sasuke and Naruto interactions in the next chappie. J

A/N/N: I will post the review responses to the last chapter in the next chapter—sorry if it inconveniences anyone. Sorry :Bows profusely:


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